Some of you (Turnoi?) might be interested in this BBC article of last August. "The Peruvian Temple that Hints at the Origin of Religion: A lost temple could teach us about how modern society is structured."

At the time [3000 years ago], 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.”

By studying the origins of sites like Chavin de Huantar, Rick hopes to show that modern belief systems began from similar origins. “There are parallels all over the modern world where complex systems developed. There’s nothing intrinsically human about authority structures. They’re created and we believe in them so they continue to exist. All privilege groups are belief systems.

“If we look at our society with an understanding of where authority comes from it makes our own symbols and architecture more understandable,” Rick says. “Basic symbols like flags – dynasties, countries. How many company presidents – or country presidents for that matter – come to power through subtle group activities, actions, images that convince people they have the right to run the show and have salaries 1,000 times greater than their workers? We believe in it because we don’t have revolutions every day in our companies. We all have the belief system that hierarchies are credible.”

It would seem that the things that are used to impress us today; huge state monuments, demonstrations of wealth or power, were exactly what impressed the people at Chavin thousands of years ago.