MEXICO

Oaxaca

 

Zapotec Sites

Contemporaries of the Aztecs and Mayans, they also built impressive cities

LESS WELL-KNOWN than two other pre-Columbian civilizations noted for their impressive ruins, the Aztec and the Maya, the Zapotec also built impressive cities once they’d set up shop more than 2,500 years ago in what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The two most important, says the 1st edition of Moon Oaxaca, were at Monte Albán and Mitla.

• Monte Albán, five kilometres southwest of Oaxaca City. “It may look a bit rundown now, but Monte Albán is the earliest example of urban planning in the Americas.” Founded in 500 B.C. on a flattened hilltop, it “quickly became the political and economic powerhouse of the region, and maintained that dominance until sometime between AD 750 and 900.” At its height the city ruled over a population of 100,000, but by A.D. 900 it “had been completely abandoned for reasons that are still unclear.”

The main plaza is almost 20 hectares inside a walled courtyard with pyramids on its north and south platforms, a ball court and an arrowhead-shaped building “believed to have been used as an observatory, as the Zapotecs’ knowledge of astronomy was well advanced.”

• Mitla, 47 kilometres east of Oaxaca City. After Monte Albán’s collapse Mitla, already the religious capital of the Zapotec civilization, became its most important site. “The modern town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla (pop. 12,500) is built right on top of the ancient settlement. Some of the compounds can be seen in town, existing right next to residences and shops.” The main cluster of ruins, at the Milta Archaeological Zone, includes tombs and living quarters for priests.

 

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