Exploring Mexico's Zapotec/Mixtec Ruins In Oaxaca

by Habeeb Salloum

For a day we had explored Oaxaca, capital of the Mexican state with the same name, glorying in its Zapotec/Mixtec heritage, which saturated all facets of life from dress and cuisine to language and ages-old artisan products. Now, on a bus tour, we were on our way to Monte Albán, the main ruin of the 8,000 archaeological sites left by these Indigenous people who once had a flourishing civilization in this part of Mexico

Turning a corner, my heart jumped. We had barely missed a coming auto. Diego, our guide of pure Zapotec descent, seeing the look of shock on the faces of some of his flock, smiled, ‘No cop! No stop!”

Our near accident was soon forgotten as our mini-bus wound its way to Monte Albán, some 10 km (6 mi) from the heart of Oaxaca. During our way upward, Diego talked with enthusiasm, relating with pride the story of the Zapotec and Mixtec nations who founded rich and flourishing cultures.           

We tumbled out of our bus at the entrance to the ruins of Monte Albán - once called the ‘city of the gods’. It was, for centuries, the capital of the Zapotecs, who in their days of glory were known as the ‘people of the clouds’. The centre of their culture and a privileged place of worship, it was inhabited by astronomers, nobles, priests and wise men.

Standing on the edge of the of the ruins, built atop a mountain whose peak had literally been cut off to create a plateau for the city, I heard Diego tell one of our group, “Look!  Have you ever seen such a breathtaking view? Look at the grandeur around you! The Zapotecs knew where to build their city.”

Well did our guide have a point. The vista was stunning. Monte Albán with its imposing and majestic structures, appearing to sprout from the clouds, dominated the city of Oaxaca and the immense flat valley  - in reality three valleys abutting each other - below.

From its aerie setting, towering 400 m (1,312 ft) above the city, the ruins beset by clouds hovering over the surrounding mountains created a dramatic scene of seducing colours. Resting on a man-made platform, Monte Albán is said to be the most impressive and fascinating pre-Columbian archaeological treasure in the whole of Meso-America.

On the ceremonial flattened mountaintop, the Zapotecs raised their holy city in order to be closer to their gods. Judging from its building stones, archaeologists believe that the first structure was erected around 700 B.C. Our knowledge of that early period, up to 300 B.C., is from the carved stone slabs found in the Temple of the Dancers, the oldest structure in the city.

The temple is covered with what was long believed to be dancers in grotesque poses and idiotic grins. However, today, many archaeologists think that the temple was a hospital and the figures are sick people in postures of agony. The bars and dots, accompanying the figures, are thought to be a system of numbering borrowed from the neighbouring Mayans.

Between 300 B.C. and 250 A.D., 90 temples were built, some showing Mayan influences. During this period, scientific knowledge among the Zapotecs reached glittering heights. They believed that the earth was round and their scientists knew the magnetic north. Uncovered skulls indicate that surgeons operated on brain tumours, using obsidian instruments and an aesthetic derived from coca leaves.

The city reached its peak between 300 and 700 A.D. when it became the centre of a highly organized, priest-dominated society. According to Diego, the clerics manipulated the people by magic, through secret tunnels and knowledge of the movement of the sun, moon and stars.

Somewhere around 1000 A.D., Monte Albán was occupied by the Mixtecs, another Indian people, who, by the year *1200, turned it into a ‘city of the dead' and it became a massive cemetery of lavish crypts where important priests and nobles were buried with their treasures. Two hundred of these tombs have to date been uncovered, the most important known as tomb number 7 which contained a fabulous collection of solid gold breast plates and masks, gold and silver jewellery, carved alabaster, crystal, jade and obsidian, pearls as large as pigeon eggs and much more.

The heart of the Monte Albán ruins is a great rectangular plaza 366 m (1,200 ft) long and 200 m (656 ft) wide, bounded by four huge ceremonial platforms. All around and in its centre are pyramids, palaces, sculptures, steles, staircases, terraces, tombs, an observatory, a sun dial and a ball court, where a game was played for pleasure - unlike in the Mayan lands where the losers were sacrificed.

The observatory, located in the group of buildings in the centre of the square, breaks the symmetry of the rest of the structures, built on a grid system. Not in line with the axis of the other buildings, it is set at 45 degrees east, precisely toward where five of the 25 brightest stars in this part of the sky may be best observed. From studying the stars, the priests set the dates for feasting, planting and harvesting.

Having been invigorated by the ruins of Monte Albán, the next day, after a short drive, we stopped by the Mixtecs ruins of Mitla. I was amazed. The architecture was much different than any, which I had seen in Mexico.

The stonewalls of the structures were inlaid with smaller stones, cut and set into geometric patterns, forming a mosaic that is eastern Mediterranean in appearance. Very intricate and precise, the designs, unsurpassed in Meso-America, are made by cutting stones so perfectly that they hold together without cement of any kind.

Unlike any other ruins in the Americas, there are no human figures or mythological events represented - only abstract designs. Even though some archaeologists indicate that the ruins show Greek influences, to me, due to the banning of human forms in Islam, the architecture has likely been influenced by the Arab/Muslims traders who some historians believe knew of the Americas long before Columbus.

NOTE: Habeeb Salloum is a freelance writer, author and member of Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) residing in Toronto, Canada. Many of his writings can be found on the internet.