Monte Albán - wikipedia Monte Albán This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( December 2009 ) Monte Albán The west side platform at the Monte Alban pyramid complex. Location within Mesoamerica Alternate name Danipaguache Location Oaxaca, Mexico Region Valley of Oaxaca Coordinates 17 ° 2 ′ 38 '' N 96 ° 46 ′ 4 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 17.04389 ° N 96.76778 ° W ﻿ / 17.04389 ; - 96.76778 History Periods Middle Preclassic to Terminal Classic UNESCO World Heritage Site Official name Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán Type Cultural Criteria i, ii, iii, iv Designated 1987 ( 11th session ) Reference no. 415 State Party Mexico Region Latin America and the Caribbean Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca ( 17.043 ° N, 96.767 ° W ). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca where the latter 's northern Etla, eastern Tlacolula, and southern Zimatlán & Ocotlán ( or Valle Grande ) branches meet. The present - day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately 9 km ( 6 mi ) east of Monte Albán. The partially excavated civic - ceremonial center of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially - leveled ridge, which with an elevation of about 1,940 m ( 6,400 ft ) above mean sea level rises some 400 m ( 1,300 ft ) from the valley floor, in an easily defensible location. In addition to the monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces, and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks. The archaeological ruins on the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills to the north are traditionally considered to be an integral part of the ancient city as well. Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán 's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio - political and economic center for close to a thousand years. Founded toward the end of the Middle Formative period at around 500 BC, by the Terminal Formative ( ca. 100 BC - AD 200 ) Monte Albán had become the capital of a large - scale expansionist polity that dominated much of the Oaxacan highlands and interacted with other Mesoamerican regional states such as Teotihuacan to the north ( Paddock 1983 ; Marcus 1983 ). The city had lost its political pre-eminence by the end of the Late Classic ( ca. AD 500 - 750 ) and soon thereafter was largely abandoned. Small - scale reoccupation, opportunistic reutilization of earlier structures and tombs, and ritual visitations marked the archaeological history of the site into the Colonial period. The etymology of the site 's present - day name is unclear, and tentative suggestions regarding its origin range from a presumed corruption of a native Zapotec name to a colonial - era reference to a Spanish soldier by the name Montalbán or to the Alban Hills of Italy. The ancient Zapotec name of the city is not known, as abandonment occurred centuries before the writing of the earliest available ethnohistorical sources. Contents 1 Research history 2 Site history 3 Monuments 4 Threats 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Research history Site plan for Monte Albán. Being visible from anywhere in the central part of the Valley of Oaxaca, the impressive ruins of Monte Albán attracted visitors and explorers throughout the colonial and modern eras. Among others, Guillermo Dupaix investigated the site in the early 19th century CE, J.M. García published a description of the site in 1859, and A.F. Bandelier visited and published further descriptions in the 1890s. A first intensive archaeological exploration of the site was conducted in 1902 by Leopoldo Batres, then General Inspector of Monuments for the Mexican government under Porfirio Diaz. It was however only in 1931 that large - scale scientific excavations were undertaken under the direction of Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso. In 1933, Eulalia Guzmán assisted with the excavation of Tomb 7. Over the following eighteen years Caso and his colleagues Ignacio Bernal and Jorge Acosta excavated large sections within the monumental core of the site, and much of what is visible today in areas open to the public was reconstructed at that time. Besides resulting in the excavation of a large number of residential and civic - ceremonial structures and hundreds of tombs and burials, one lasting achievement of the project by Caso and his colleagues was the establishment of a ceramic chronology ( phases Monte Albán I through V ) for the period between the site 's founding in ca. 500 BCE to end of the Postclassic period in CE 1521. The investigation of the periods preceding Monte Albán 's founding was a major focus of the Prehistory and Human Ecology Project started by Kent Flannery of the University of Michigan in the late 1960s. Over the following two decades this project documented the development of socio - political complexity in the valley from the earliest Archaic period ( ca. 8000 - 2000 BCE ) to the Rosario phase ( 700 - 500 BCE ) immediately preceding Monte Albán, thus setting the stage for an understanding of the latter 's founding and developmental trajectory. In this context, among the major accomplishments of Flannery 's work in Oaxaca are his extensive excavations at the important formative center of San José Mogote in the Etla branch of the valley, a project co-directed with Joyce Marcus of the University of Michigan. A further important step in the understanding of the history of occupation of the Monte Albán site was reached with the Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Valley of Oaxaca Project begun by Richard Blanton and several colleagues in the early 1970s. It is only with their intensive survey and mapping of the entire site that the real extension and size of Monte Albán beyond the limited area explored by Caso became known. Subsequent seasons of the same project under the direction of Blanton, Gary Feinman, Steve Kowalewski, Linda Nicholas, and others extended the survey coverage to practically the entire valley, producing an invaluable amount of data on the region 's changing settlement patterns from the earliest times to the arrival of the Spanish in CE 1521. Ballgame court Site history As indicated by Blanton 's survey of the site, the Monte Albán hills appear to have been uninhabited prior to 500 BCE ( the end of the Rosario ceramic phase ). At that time, San José Mogote was the major population center in the valley and head of a chiefdom that likely controlled much of the northern Etla branch. Perhaps as many as three or four other smaller chiefly centers controlled other sub-regions of the valley, including Tilcajete in the southern Valle Grande branch and Yegüih in the Tlacolula arm to the east. Competition and warfare seem to have characterized the Rosario phase, and the regional survey data suggests the existence of an unoccupied buffer zone between the San José Mogote chiefdom and those to the south and east. It is within this no - man 's land that at the end of the Rosario period Monte Albán was founded, quickly reaching a population estimate of around 5,200 by the end of the following Monte Albán Ia phase ( ca. 300 BCE ). This remarkable population increase was accompanied by an equally rapid decline at San José Mogote and neighbouring satellite sites, making it likely that its chiefly elites were directly involved in the founding of the future Zapotec capital. This rapid shift in population and settlement, from dispersed localized settlements to a central urban site in a previously unsettled area, has been referred to as the `` Monte Alban Synoikism '' by Marcus and Flannery in reference to similar recorded instances in the Mediterranean area in antiquity. Although it was previously thought that a similar process of large - scale abandonment, and thus participation in the founding of Monte Albán, occurred at other major chiefly centers such as Yegüih and Tilcajete, at least in the latter 's case this now appears to be unlikely. A recent project directed by Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond of the American Museum of Natural History in New York has shown that rather than being abandoned the site actually grew significantly in population during the periods Monte Albán Early I and Late I ( ca. 500 - 300 BCE and 300 - 100 BCE, respectively ) and might have actively opposed incorporation into the increasingly powerful Monte Albán state. Aerial view of Monte Albán By the beginning of the Terminal Formative ( Monte Albán II phase, ca. 100 BCE - CE 200 ) Monte Albán had an estimated population of 17,200, making it one of the largest Mesoamerican cities at the time. The city has excellent views all the way around. As its political power grew, Monte Albán expanded militarily, through cooption, and via outright colonization into several areas outside the Valley of Oaxaca, including the Cañada de Cuicatlán to the north and the southern Ejutla and Sola de Vega valleys. ( Feinman and Nicholas 1990 ) During this period and into the subsequent Early Classic ( Monte Albán IIIA phase, ca. CE 200 - 500 ) Monte Albán was the capital of a major regional polity that exerted a dominating influence over the Valley of Oaxaca and across much of the Oaxacan highlands. As mentioned earlier, evidence at Monte Albán is suggestive of high - level contacts between the site 's elites and those at the powerful central Mexican city of Teotihuacan, where archaeologists have identified a neighbourhood inhabited by ethnic Zapotecs from the valley of Oaxaca ( Paddock 1983 ). By the Late Classic ( Monte Albán IIIB / IV, ca. CE 500 - 1000 ) the site 's influence outside and inside the valley declined, and elites at several other centers, once part of the Monte Albán state, began to assert their autonomy, including sites such as Cuilapan and Zaachila in the Valle Grande and Lambityeco, Mitla, and El Palmillo in the eastern Tlacolula arm. The latter is the focus of an ongoing project by Gary Feinman and Linda Nicholas of Chicago 's Field Museum ( Feinman and Nicholas 2002 ). By the end of the same period ( ca. AD 900 - 1000 ) the ancient capital was largely abandoned, and the once powerful Monte Albán state was replaced by dozens of competing smaller polities, a situation that lasted up to the Spanish conquest. Monuments View of Main Plaza from the North Platform. The South Platform can be seen in the distance. The monumental center of Monte Albán is the Main Plaza, which measures approximately 300 meters by 200 meters. The site 's main civic - ceremonial and elite - residential structures are located around it or in its immediate vicinity, and most of these have been explored and restored by Alfonso Caso and his colleagues. To the north and south the Main Plaza is delimited by large platforms accessible from the plaza via monumental staircases. On its eastern and western sides the plaza is similarly bounded by a number of smaller platform mounds on which stood temples and elite residences, as well as one of two ballcourts known to have existed at the site. A north - south spine of mounds occupies the center of the plaza and similarly served as platforms for ceremonial structures. The impressive stairs leading up to the South Platform. 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 figures are said to represent sacrificial victims, which explains the morbid characteristics of the figures. The Danzantes feature physical traits characteristic of Olmec culture. 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 ), are now seen to clearly represent tortured, sacrificed war prisoners, some identified by name, and may depict leaders of competing centers and villages captured by Monte Albán. ( Blanton et al. 1996 ) Over 300 `` Danzantes '' stones have been recorded to date, and some of the better preserved ones can be viewed at the site 's museum. There is some indication that the Zapotecs had writing and calendrical notation. A different type of carved stones is found on the nearby Building J in the center of the Main Plaza, a building characterized by an unusual arrow - like shape and an orientation that differs from most other structures at the site. Inserted within the building walls are over 40 large carved slabs dating to Monte Albán II and depicting place - names, occasionally accompanied by additional writing and in many cases characterized by upside - down heads. Alfonso Caso was the first to identify these stones as `` conquest slabs '', likely listing places the Monte Albán elites claimed to have conquered and / or controlled. Some of the places listed on Building J slabs have been tentatively identified, and in one case ( the Cañada de Cuicatlán region in northern Oaxaca ) Zapotec conquest has been confirmed through archaeological survey and excavations. The site of Monte Alban contains several pieces of evidence through the architecture of the site to suggest that there was social stratification within the settlement. Walls that were as large as nine meters tall and twenty meters wide were built around the settlement and would have been used not only to create a boundary between Monte Alban and neighboring settlements but also prove the power of the elites within the community. In Scott Hutson 's analysis of the relationships between the commoners and the elites in Monte Alban he notes that the monumental mounds that were found in the site seemed to be evenly spaced throughout the site so that each house would be close enough to a mound that it could easily be kept under surveillance. Hutson also makes note that over time the style of houses seem to have changed to become more private to those living in the buildings making it harder for information to be obtained by outsiders. These changes to the ability of the elites to gain information about the private lives of its citizens would have played a key role in the internal political structure of the settlement. Many of the artifacts excavated at Monte Albán in over a century of archaeological exploration can be seen at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City and at the Museo Regional de Oaxaca in the ex-convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Oaxaca City. The latter museum houses, among others, many of the objects discovered in 1932 by Alfonso Caso in Monte Albán 's Tomb 7, a Classic period Zapotec tomb that was opportunistically reused in Postclassic times for the burial of Mixtec elite individuals. Their burial was accompanied by some of the most spectacular burial offerings of any site in the Americas. Monte Albán is a popular tourist destination for visitors to Oaxaca and has a small site museum mostly displaying original carved stones from the site. The site received 429,702 visitors in 2017. Panorama of Monte Albán from the South Platform. Threats The primary threat to this archaeological site is urban growth that is encroaching and `` threatening to expand into territories that have potential archaeological value. '' To complicate matters, the administration of the site is divided amongst four different municipalities, making a unified effort to stop the urban encroachment challenging. Gallery Altar Unrestored section of Monte Albán with Oaxaca City in the background View of Main Plaza from the South Platform, with Building J in the foreground. One of the stelae known as Dancing by unorthodox positions of the characters represented. Plan of Monte Alban 's System IV structure, cut from a 3D laser scan image. Image of Monte Alban 's System IV structure, taken from a 3D laser scan image. View across Main Plaza from the South Platform, with Building J in the foreground. Building M as seen from the South Platform. Stones of the Dancers, in the Plaza of the Dancers, next to Building L. Tomb north of the North Platform Building X on North Platform Unexcavated building on North Platform Stone carvings, L View of Main Plaza from the North Platform See also San José Mogote, an earlier site and predecessor of Monte Albán in the Valley of Oaxaca Mixteca Alta Formative Project List of archaeoastronomical sites sorted by country Notes ^ Jump up to : Blanton, Richard E. ( 1978 ). Monte Albán : Settlement Patterns at the Ancient Zapotec Capital. New York : Academic Press. Jump up ^ Batres, Leopoldo ( 1902 ). Exploraciones en Monte Albán. México : Casa Editorial Gante. Jump up ^ Presidencia CEN ( February 12, 2015 ). `` ¿ Sabías Que... ? '' ( in Spanish ). Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Retrieved 20 March 2015. Jump up ^ Marcus, Joyce ( 1983 ). Flannery, K.V. ; Marcus, J., eds. In The Cloud People. New York : Academic Press. pp. 175 -- 181. ^ Jump up to : Marcus, Joyce ; Flannery, Kent V. ( 1996 ). Zapotec Civilization : How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico 's Oaxaca Valley. London : Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0 - 500 - 05078 - 3. Jump up ^ Blanton, Richard E. ; Kowalewski, Stephen A. ; Feinman, Gary M. ; Appel, Jill ( 1982 ). `` Monte Albán 's Hinterland, Part I : Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Central and Southern Parts of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico ''. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Museum of Anthropology Memoir 15. 15. Jump up ^ Kowalewski, Stephen A. ; Feinman, G. ; Finsten, L. ; Blanton, R. ; Nicholas, L. ( 1989 ). `` Monte Albán 's Hinterland, Part II : The Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in Tlacolula, Etla and Ocotlán, the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico ''. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Museum of Anthropology Memoir 23. 23. Jump up ^ Spencer, Charles S ; Redmond, Elsa M. ( 2001 ). `` Multilevel Selection and Political Evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca, 500 - 100 B.C. ''. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 20 : 195 -- 229. doi : 10.1006 / jaar. 2000.0371. Jump up ^ Balkansky, Andrew K. ( 2002 ). `` The Sola Valley and the Monte Albán State. A Study of Zapotec Imperial Expansion ''. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Museum of Anthropology Memoir 36. 36. ^ Jump up to : Spencer, Charles S. ( 1982 ). The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán : A Study of Primary State Formation. New York and London : Academic Press. ^ Jump up to : Redmond, Elsa M. ( 1983 ). `` A Fuego y Sangre : Early Zapotec Imperialism in the Cuicatlán Cañada ''. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Museum of Anthropology Memoir 16. 16. Jump up ^ Blanton, et al. ( 1999 ) Jump up ^ MexOnline, 2012 Jump up ^ Hutson, Scott ( 2002 ). `` Built Space and Bad Subjects ''. Journal of Social Archaeology. 2 ( 1 ) : 53 -- 80. doi : 10.1177 / 1469605302002001597. Retrieved November 15, 2012. Jump up ^ Caso, Alfonso ( 1932 ). `` Monte Albán, richest archaeological find in the Americas ''. National Geographic Magazine. 62 : 487 -- 512. Jump up ^ `` Estadística de Visitantes '' ( in Spanish ). INAH. Retrieved 25 March 2018. ^ Jump up to : `` World Heritage at Risk within Mexico ''. ICOMOS. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 25. References This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( November 2009 ) Blanton, Richard E. ; Gary M. Feinman ; Stephen A. Kowalewski ; Linda M. Nicholas ( 1999 ). Ancient Oaxaca : the Monte Albán State. London : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 - 521 - 57787 - X. OCLC 41420906. Caso, Alfonso ( 1932 ) `` Monte Albán, richest archaeological find in the Americas ''. National Geographic Magazine LXII : 487 - 512. Coe, Michael D. ; Dean Snow ; Elizabeth Benson ( 1986 ). Atlas of Ancient America. New York : Facts on File. ISBN 0 - 8160 - 1199 - 0. Feinman, Gary M., and Linda M. Nicholas ( 1990 ) `` At the Margins of the Monte Albán State : Settlement Patterns in the Ejutla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico ''. Latin American Antiquity 1 : 216 - 246. Feinman, Gary M. and Linda M. Nicholas ( 2002 ) `` Houses on a Hill : Classic Period Life at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 13 : 251 - 277. Hutson, Scott ( 2002 ) Built Space and Bad Subjects. Journal of Social Archaeology. Paddock, John ( 1983 ) The Oaxaca Barrio at Teotihuacan. In The Cloud People, edited by K.V. Flannery and J. Marcus, pp. 170 -- 175. Academic Press, New York. Prado, Minerva ( 1994 ). `` La población prehispánica de Monte Albán : algunos parámetros demográficos '' ( online journal edition ). Dimensión antropológica ( in Spanish ). México, D.F. : Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. 1 : 7 -- 36. ISSN 1405 - 776X. OCLC 33252144. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monte Albán. Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Monte Alban. Minnesota State University website Virtual Monte Albán INAH site with VR imagery of the site ( in Spanish ) Monte Albán Digital Media Archive ( creative commons - licensed photos, laser scans, panoramas ), particularly focusing on System IV but with images from all over the site, with data from an INAH / CyArk research partnership Mexican and Central American Archaeological Projects - Electronic articles published by the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History. Metropolitan Museum of Art ( NY ) website Commercial website with site plans and photos of Los Danzantes The DeLanges visit Monte Alban, with lots of photos Monte Alban - Sacred Destinations article View on Google Maps - With a short panoramic video of the site. Field Museum of Natural History Ancient Americas web site ( 1 ) More photos of the Monte Albán area World Heritage Sites in Mexico North West Archaeological Zone of Paquimé, Casas Grandes El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California Rock Paintings of Sierra de San Francisco Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino North Central Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro Historic Centre of Zacatecas Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines Protected town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco West Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila Archipiélago de Revillagigedo Historic Centre of Morelia Hospicio Cabañas, Guadalajara Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve East Earliest 16th - century Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl Pre-Hispanic City of El Tajín Historic Centre of Puebla Historic Monuments Zone of Tlacotalpan South West Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán Prehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla in the Central Valley of Oaxaca Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque South Central Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalco Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System Central University City Campus of the UNAM Earliest 16th - century Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Historic Centres of Mexico City and Xochimilco Luis Barragán House and Studio Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacán South East Ancient Maya City of Calakmul, Campeche Historic Fortified Town of Campeche Pre-Hispanic City of Chichén Itzá Sian Ka'an Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal Shared by more than one region Coordinates : 17 ° 02 ′ 38 '' N 96 ° 46 ′ 04 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 17.04389 ° N 96.76778 ° W ﻿ / 17.04389 ; - 96.76778 VIAF : 233740833 BNF : cb11963898k ( data ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title= Monte_Albán&oldid = 832458030 '' Categories : World Heritage Sites in Mexico Zapotec sites Mixtec sites Former populated places in Mexico Archaeological sites in Oaxaca Tourist attractions in Oaxaca History of Oaxaca Museums in Oaxaca Archaeological museums in Mexico 19th - century archaeological discoveries 6th - century BC establishments 10th - century disestablishments in North America Hidden categories : CS1 Spanish - language sources ( es ) Articles lacking in - text citations from December 2009 All articles lacking in - text citations Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows Articles lacking in - text citations from November 2009 Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Articles with Spanish - language external links Coordinates on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikivoyage Afrikaans Aragonés বাংলা Български Català Cebuano Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto Euskara Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano ქართული Lietuvių Magyar მარგალური Nāhuatl Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Polski Português Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 30 more Edit links This page was last edited on 26 March 2018, at 03 : 41. 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Question: what do the dazante figures from monte alban depict
Answer: sacrificial victims