Image: Chavin lanzon stela2 cyark

Description: The Lanzon has been interpreted variously as a principal deity of Chavin, an oracle with the power to speak (thanks to a hole in the roof of the chamber), a symbol of trade, fertility, dualism, and humankind's interaction with nature, or any combination of these. What is evident is that the 4.5m (15 feet)-tall obelisk is a painstakingly carved piece of white granite in a roughly lance-like shape, and depicts a human-feline hybrid with claws, writhing snakes for hair and eyebrows, fangs curved sideways in a smile (thus the nickname 'Smiling God'), and one arm raised while the other is lowered. Other carvings at Chavin de Huantar depict Lanzon clutching a Strombus shell in one hand and a Spondylus shell in the other, which has been interpreted as a possible reference to fertility and the duality of the sexes.
Title: Chavin lanzon stela2 cyark
Credit: Still image from full video, viewable at CyArk
Author: CyArk
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