At 1300 feet above the Central Valley floor, (6391 feet above sea level) the views from Oaxaca’s White Mountain are breath taking. Known as Monte Alban locally, this flat-topped pea k to the southwest of Oaxaca City is also the name of one of Mesoamerica’s earliest empires.
Beginning as early as 500 BCE, the hilltop was occupied by the Zapotec people, and it is here that they built a power-base which reached its peak some 1200 years later.Monte Alban was a carefully organized society dominated by a priestly class and the people who called it home came to dominate the surrounding mountains of the Valles Centrales through economic, ideological and political control until around 750 CE.
We know that approximately 4,000 years ago, village dwellers who may have been Olmec moved into the valleys of Oaxaca. Around 1500 years later, the Zapotec people began moving into the area. One of these groups then began to flatten the top of White Mountain, which is located at the intersection of three valleys. Eventually, these people built the city of Monte Alban, which, in addition to its above-ground structures, included a labyrinth of underground water drainage and storage systems, rooms and passages. Architectural motifs as well as archeological finds such as sculptures and masks indicate that these people were in contact with other powerful city-states such as the Maya.
While there is still argument among some scholars as to who flattened the mountain top and built the city’s earliest structures – the Olmec or the Zapotec people – what we know is that the distinctive architectural style of the Zapotecs found at Monte Alban during its rise to power coincides with Olmec culture’s decline.
Monte Alban had two peak or ‘golden’ ages. The first was between 100 BCE and 100 CE; the second was between 600 and 750 CE. During these periods, the city’s surrounding hillsides were terraced for homes, and during the second golden age, the area supported as many as 35,000 people within a 161 acre radius. Each of the peak ages were followed by a period of decline. The second and final major decline, during the late eighth century, left the ancient city uninhabited for about 500 years. Archeologists are still uncertain about the causes of the empire’s final decline.
By the beginning of the 13th century, the nearby Mixtec people, who had lived for hundreds of years alongside the Zapotec of Monte Alban, were in a period of expansion. They eventually reoccupied Monte Alban, adding many tombs but leaving most of the remaining Zapotec structures in tact. The most famous Mixtec remain is Tumba (tomb) 7. Although the structure was built during the height of Zapotec inhabitation (Monte Alban III), the Mixtecs reused it to bury a dignitary and two of his sacrificed servants. What makes this tomb so remarkable was not the official buried there, but what accompanied him. When archeologists opened the tomb, they found one of the greatest hoards of treasure ever discovered in the Americas. The treasure can be viewed at Oaxaca City’s Museo de la Culturas de Oaxaca.
Like many Mesoamerican empire sites, Monte Alban features pyramidal towers, a central plaza, a ball court for juego de pelota and numerous other structures intended for sacred rites and the political management of an empire. In 1931, Mexican archeologist Dr. Alfonso Caso began exploring and restoring the site. His 22 year study drew him to the conclusion that the city’s history could be divided into five different periods or epochs which span 20 centuries between 500 BCE and 1521 CE. Caso based these periods on varying types of exchange systems, population densities and social organization found during those times. Thus today we have Monte Alban I, II, III, IV and V.
Today, Monte Alban is an archeological site that is open to the public. It is considered of great import because it represents the roots of Oaxaca’s Mesoamerican culture. It is a popular destination for visitors to Oaxaca as well as bird watchers and hikers. The site can be reached by car in about 20 minutes from central Oaxaca. For the adventurous, a walk from the city center takes about an hour and a half.
Tags: early empire, Maya, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Mixtec, Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Olmec, Zapotec
