Monte Alban & Mitla

One of the views from Monte Alban

On July 13, we all got into a bus and headed for Monte Alban (~ 800 BCE to 900 CE) which was a Zapotec city.   FYI: BCE = BC and CE  = AD, the Western powers that be in history are moving to using BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) as they feel it is somehow more correct and not religion based. Monte Alban is just a mere 30 minutes from downtown Oaxaca.

The erroneously named Los Danzantes (The Dancers)... originally thought to be dancing, these men are, in fact, dead after having been mutilated. Yikes.

Interestingly, there were no metal tools available at Monte Alban, and though there were wheels on children's toys, wheels were NOT used as a tool/ machine. Perhaps that is because of the hilly terrain? One doesn't truly know (including Dr. Spores, our resident archeologist/ anthropologist whose focus in Mesoamerica, specifically those cultures in the Oaxaca region). It is estimated at the height of Monte Alban that the population was ~ 30000.

So, since we all know I am best with pictures and not words... here ya go!

One of the pyramids...

Ron (one of the staff) at the top of the pyramid we climbed... you can see Celeste at the bottom. It didn't take too long to climb, but it wasn't easy as the steps are very narrow and unusually tall.

After lunch, we then headed to Mitla (~ 100 - 650 CE), a much smaller Mixtec city, where you can see the Spanish colonial church is built on top of some of the ruins (see below), and some of the stones from fallen down Mitla buildings were used in the construction of the church.

As you can see, not only was the church built on top of the ruins, 

today's modern Mitla residents live right next door.

Some remaining paintings (painted on plaster that's been put on the stone wall).

More of the "Greca" friezes... 

The designs are thought to be representative of wind, rain, clouds, etc.

You can see here paint remnants, which shows us that the friezes used to be vividly painted.

Here you can see one of the friezes close up. Note that each individual piece is held in by pressure, there is no mortar/cement. Also, the pieces that stand up/out are all one piece (more intact ones to the left, ones that have broken off to the right).

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