In fact, these underground galleries were more than just a place of ritual. As was recently discovered by a team of archaeologists led by John Rick, through the use of all-terrain robots, these galleries were the final resting place for, presumably, the temple's builders. The men's bodies weren't buried in a very honorable way: they were face-down, covered by rocks. John Rick raised the possibility, yet to be confirmed, that these people could very well have been sacrificed. This discovery shed some light as to where the people of Chavín buried their dead, although there might be other burial sites, as the director for the excavation said that he doesn't believe it was customary to bury them in those galleries, just that it sometimes happened. If it becomes known, through the study of the remains, that they were indeed sacrificed, it could also serve to prove the theory that the galleries were a place of ritual, but for now, we can only know for sure that it was the final resting place for the men who built the temple.