Monte Albán

Related civilizations: Zapotecs, Mixtecs.

Date: 500 BCE–700 CE

Locale: Oaxaca Valley, southern Mexico

Monte Albán

Monte Albán refers to a hilltop that was artificially flattened and built up to create a city that became the capital of Zapotec society. Monte Albán also refers to the surrounding settlements on nearby hilltops, hillsides, and valleys, all of which pertained to and supported the capital. The Monte Albán hill was unoccupied until about 500 BCE; it may have been chosen by competing Zapotec villages as the site for an administrative center, as it was on neutral territory. Although the hilly area did not possess much water or good soil and was located 1,300 feet (396 meters) above the valley, it offered a key strategic position with a view of the three fingerlike valleys spreading out around it.

As Monte Albán was constructed and settled, the population of the Oaxaca Valley decreased. During Monte Albán period IA (500–300 BCE), Monte Albán’s population exceeded five thousand people, at least half of the Oaxaca Valley’s population. New villages were formed along the foothills and terraces of the mountain, and by period IC, the population of the Oaxaca Valley had risen to about fifty thousand, the majority of whom lived within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the capital. The developing state at Monte Albán was distinguished by features such as a centralized government of religiously trained rulers, an administrative hierarchy, a system of exacting tributes from communities and wars toward this purpose, and an organized system of priests and public works based on construction of religious temples and other structures. The civil-ceremonial center on top of Monte Albán, circa period I, included temples and residences for the elite, although the more luxurious palaces that later emerged as housing for rulers did not yet exist. Commoners lived in more modest, adobe-like structures, which were sometimes located behind defensive walls built in this period.

During period I, several novel innovations emerged: the comal, a large griddle used for mass-producing tortillas, and irrigation systems. Irrigation was necessary to bring water to the arid piedmont and terraced areas of Monte Albán and involved a system of dams and canals.

The first incidence of literary texts in Mexico dates to period I, in the form of an important set of large stone slabs now called the danzantes (dancers). Placed in the southwest portion of the hilltop, there are four rows, totaling about three hundred slabs. Numbers (bars and dots) and hieroglyphs are carved on the slabs alongside figures depicting sacrificed human victims and captives of war. The numbers are understood, although the text is not: Zapotec writing is still largely undeciphered. The scenes depicted, as well as the great effort required to create the slabs, suggest that Monte Albán was militarily powerful. During this period, the citizens of Monte Albán used calendars, the first to emerge in pre-Hispanic society.

The move into Monte Albán period II (100 BCE–200 CE) was gradual. This period was highly dynamic, marked by well-established sociopolitical organization throughout Zapotec society and expansion into neighboring territories. Society functioned by means of commoners who provided labor and farmed crops and raised animals to provide food for the society, as well as monetary payments exacted from villages. Study of period II pottery shards, which incidentally represented the most colorful (red, orange, white, black) pottery to date, shows that the number of communities decreased in comparison to Monte Albán period I, although the cities in Monte Albán II were larger.

Important construction of public buildings flourished during period II, such as the creation of the 980-by-660-foot (300-by-200-meter) Main Plaza on top of Monte Albán. This plaza served as the focus of the hilltop’s buildings; the North Platform, temples, tombs, and the like were built on top of the smaller structures built in period I. Another important building of period II was an arrowhead-shaped building now known as Building J, which was oriented in near-perfect alignment with the star Capella. The exterior of the building shows scenes of warfare and conquest of various kings, common themes in Zapotec glyphs at Monte Albán. Important changes in period II were the emergence of large palaces and tombs built for rulers, and the standardization of temples to contain two rooms.

Monte Albán reached its apogee in period III, between 200 and 700 CE. During the first half of this Classic period, the population expanded, especially in the valley, although the capital of Monte Albán continued to wield power. In period IIIB, geographical expansion slowed greatly, but many new buildings were constructed in the capital. The population reached its maximum size of 115,000 during period III, and Monte Albán stretched over settlements on neighboring ridges and hills as well as valleys. As was the case beginning in period II, new structures on the capital’s hilltop were built over old ones, and many of the structures that remain are from period III. The capital contained a main large plaza, temples, palaces, ball courts, platforms, administrative centers, and other buildings, all built on a massive scale. The territory of Monte Albán III was characterized by a highly complex political and social system, an ever-expanding population, and well-developed architecture. Both the pottery and architecture of Monte Albán were distinctively Zapotec.

After 700 CE

By period IV, 700-950 CE, the structure of Zapotec society had changed dramatically. In contrast to the highly centralized control of the past, by 700 CE, administrative control in the territory of Monte Albán had shifted to smaller, autonomous areas, and the capital decreased in population from 16,500 in period III to an estimated 4,000 people. The capital was abandoned to a great extent and left to become ruins, which were later used by the Mixtecs for burial grounds. One theory supposes that the fourteen groups or families who held administrative buildings in the Main Plaza may have relocated to smaller locales away from the capital, forming their own ruling centers. Although period IV is not fully understood, this argument makes sense to the extent that excavations of these new, smaller locales yielded tombs, artifacts, and elite dwellings that are in keeping with the Monte Albán styles.

Monte Albán was eventually encroached upon by the Mixtecs and later the Aztecs. Although it lost its control over the region, elements of Zapotec culture, including language, were maintained.

World Heritage Site

The Monte Albán site remains a major tourist attraction and an economic asset for the nearby modern city of Oaxaca and the entire state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The ongoing influence of vibrant contemporary indigenous culture remains powerful in the region as well. In order to recognize and preserve the cultural and historic value of Monte Albán, in 1987 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the site, as well as the historic urban core of the city of Oaxaca, a World Heritage site. By covering both the Spanish colonial architecture of Oaxaca dating back to 1529 and the ancient structures of the Olmec, Zapotec, and Mixtec people, the Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán, as the site is officially known, represents a unique instance of various layers of heritage coexisting in one geographic region.

Archaeologists continue to study this valuable intersection of history and culture, which stands as one of the best examples of cultural evolution in a long-inhabited place. Meanwhile, tourism to Monte Albán provides valuable economic activity for the entire region.

Bibliography

Flannery, Kent, and Joyce Marcus. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996.

"Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán." UNESCO. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2016. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

"Oaxaca, World Heritage City." VisitMexico. Mexico Tourism Board, 2012. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

Paddock, John, ed. Ancient Oaxaca: Discoveries in Mexican Archeology and History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1966.

Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archeology of Mesoamerica. 3d ed. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1993.