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The Olmec/Zapotec center, Monte Albán, sits on a
hilltop 400 meters above the valley floor near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico.
The site is at the confluence of three large valleys, the Tlacolula Valley
to the east, the Etla Valley to the north, and the Zimatlán-Ocotlán
Valley to the south, all fertile agricultural regions.
Monte Albán began to emerge as a regional center sometime around
500 B.C. It's function seems to have been to unite the people of the three
valley regions. The early architecture shows Olmec influence. According
to our guide, the Zapotec later took control and rebuilt the center in their
own style by building over (encasing) the original structures.
Photos - Relief Carvings outside the Temple of Danzante at Monte Alban in Oaxaca Mexico. One characteristic of Monte Albán is the large number of carved stone monuments one encounters throughout the plaza. The earliest examples are the so-called "Danzantes" (literally, dancers), found mostly in the vicinity of Building L and which represent naked men in contorted and twisted poses, some of them genitally mutilated. The 19th century notion that they depict dancers is now largely discredited, and these monuments, dating to the earliest period of occupation at the site (Monte Albán I), clearly represent tortured, sacrificed war prisoners, some identified by name, and may depict leaders of competing centers and villages captured by Monte Albán (Marcus and Flannery 1996; Blanton et al. 1996). Over 300 “Danzantes” stones have been recorded to date, and some of the better preserved ones can be viewed inside the museum at the north gate entrance.
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Photos - More Carved stones outside the Temple of Danzantes, an a narrow entrance to a small, dark room with more stone and more carvings inside.
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Photos - More Relief carvings - the one in center frame is actually built into the wall and looks a little like an email address 'at' symbol.
Click here for more photos of Monte Alban in Oaxaca Mexico for this day.
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