At the time, anyone in a position of power in a village or local political system was looking for a way to reinforce their authority. Military power was not very effective – local leaders only had control over so many people and power in warring cultures was likely to change hands frequently, and bloodily. The solution, suggests Rick, was to have your people buy into a belief system, and to show them that your power was ordained from above. “This was the beginning of organised government,” says Rick. “No system is completely stable – they’re all strategies to get us to invest in someone and it all started with simple belief systems.”

There’s evidence that visitors from far away came here – objects brought here from at least 500km (310 miles), “which at the time would be an extraordinary distance to travel,” says Rick. “This leads us to think the people that came here were important figures. This was a cult for the secondary elite who were now emerging and for whom Chavin fit very well in their world view.”

Visitors would be asked for contributions of labour to show their commitment to the cult. Local leaders would bring expert workers with them who could help to construct these intricate temples. There’s evidence of exquisite pottery and stone work from far away. In return, only the leaders would be permitted to enter the temple. The more important you were, or the more you could offer the cult, the further into the temple you could pass in a kind of initiation ceremony. By doing so, they were committing themselves to the cult, and being touched by the god-like powers of the priests. “This was a conspiracy, you could almost say, of people working in league with each other and Chavin impressed them.”

Rick thinks there might have been eight to 20 major cult centres in the central Andes competing with each other for followings. It was the purpose of the centres to develop technology that would impress people. For example, there’s another site to the north with evidence of gold, which Chavin doesn’t have. This other site might have impressed visitors with their ability to control light.