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Monte Albán - Zapotec Empire history - page 2 of 5

Over the course of its twelve hundred year existence, which included a number of phases, Monte Albán reached a maximum population of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The urban phase, called Monte Albán I, lasted from 500 to 200 B.C. The Protoclassic period, or Monte Albán II, existed from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. The Classic period, from 200 to 700 A.D, is divided into Monte Albán IIIa and IIIb. During the city’s final phase, archaeological evidence implies political breakdown and depletion of resourced.

In 500 B.C., at the end of the Rosario phase, there was radical change in the Oaxaca Valley. San Jose Mogote, the largest community in the valley for more than eight hundred years, suddenly lost most of its population. This was possibly because of internal conflict. At the same time, some two thousand inhabitants left their villages on the valley floor to relocate on the slopes of Monte Albán. Soon afterward, about a dozen communities in the valley were established on defensible hilltops with walls.

Social stratification developed during Monte Albán I. There is no evidence that a supreme ruler existed, but rather a privileged class of priest, warriors, rulers, and artists controlled other Zapotecs and their labor. A market flourished in Monte Albán, where imported goods such as obsidian, pottery, salt, lime, and other items were bartered.

The first permanent structure built during this era was Building L, containing the Wall of the Danzantes. The Spanish conquistadors believed that these carvings of naked upright figures represented dancers. The wall contains four alternating rows of supposed dancers and swimmers, who appear in smaller rectangular blocks in an outstretched horizontal position. More than three hundred of these varied figures are recorded at Monte Albán. Each stone has a single naked male figure, eyes closed, mouth open, some with elaborate hairstyles, earspools, and bead necklaces. They could signify an awesome display of military strength or a historical narrative.

By 100 B.C., Monte Albán had gradually subjugated more than three hundred tribute paying communities in the Oaxaca Valley to create the Zapotec empire. It cannot be determined how many of these towns were taken by military conquest, or how many weaker ones succumbed to colonization. The metropolis was protected by a long defensive wall 15 feet high and 60 feet wide on the easily climbed western slopes of the mountain.

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Mexican Zapotec Classic era - Monte Albán - page 3

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