Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico

 Monte Alban is a fascinating pre-Columbian site about six miles from the center of Oaxaca city.  This is a huge site that was begun around 500 BCE.  It was used for about 1,500 years and it was abandoned before the arrival of the Spanish.  It was the capital city of the Zapotec people, who still inhabit the surrounding valleys and into the coast.  It is one of the earliest and largest settlements in the Americas and one of the great early civilizations in the world. 

I was most intrigued by the stone figures known as "Los Danzantes".  There are many ideas about these mysterious stones.  The latest thinking is that these were sacrificial victims.  The figures are approximately life-size.  Many of them depict genital mutilation.  If these are war trophies, none of them depict battles or the moment of execution.  It isn't even clear that the figures represent dead people.  My own impression that it represents a religious ceremony and the mutilation is part of a spiritual ascendance.  Some of the figures have their arms in a position that suggests jaguar paws.  Human-animal hybrids are often depicted in art of Meso-America.  The Zapotecs had glyphs and calendar notations, but these have not been deciphered.

This is a must see.  It is UNESCO World Heritage Site.  There are huge plazas, ball courts, tombs and more.  It is on top of a hill and it is a bit of a climb to reach the site.  There is a small museum and restrooms.