Recently discovered ruins and rock art in southwestern Mexico have been attributed to the Zapotec culture and are offering new insights into their lives and society.
“An astonishing discovery has been made on top of a mountain in Mexico. Archaeologists and locals have been exploring a site where previously unknown Zapotec ruins and carvings have been found. The Zapotec ruins date back 2500 years and are providing new insight into an important culture in Mesoamerica before the coming of the Conquistadors.
The discovery was made by local people from the village of Santa Cruz Huehuepiaxtla, which is in Puebla State in south-west Mexico. This area of the country is rich in historic ruins and archaeological sites. The finds were made on the summit of Cerro de Pena mountain at a height of 6000 feet (1,828.8 meters).” (Whelan 2020) The site of the newly discovered ruins is a two and a half hour climb up a rocky path above the village.
The Zapotec people were reading and writing, doing mathematical and astronomic calculations, and building complex stone cities at roughly the same time as the Classical civilizations of the Old World.
“Jose Alfredo Arellanes, from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), says 87 glyphs, or symbols, have been found so far. Mr. Arellanes says initial investigations suggest a ceremonial area, flanked by temples and the homes of the rulers, would have been located at the top of the mountain. The archaeologist thinks the site would have also had seven pyramids and a court to play pelota, a game in which players used their hips to propel a rubber bell through stone hoops.
Puebla is an area rich with archaeological ruins but locals said they were proud to have led archaeologists to this latest finds. Experts are still analysing the finds but said the site could have been built by people belonging to the Zapotec civilization, also known as the ‘Cloud People’, which originated in the area 2,500 years ago and had a sophisticated architecture and style of writing based on glyphs.” (BBC 2020) These findings seem to indicate that the Zapotec culture possessed virtually all of the main recognizable elements of later Mesoamerican cultures.
“The Zapotec civilization (The People” c. 700 BC - 1521AD) was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture originated at least 2,500 years ago. The Zapotec archaeological site at the ancient city of Monte Alban has monumental buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods, including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Alban was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica. It was the center of a Zapotec state that dominated much of the territory which today is known as the Mexican state of Oaxaca.” (Wikipedia)
These new discoveries are 168 miles closer to Mexico City than the type site of Zapotec, Monte Alban, and suggests that the Zapotec area of influence may have been larger than had been previously thought. I find it exciting that these new discoveries just seem to keep coming.
NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
BBC Staff, Mexico Archaeology: Pre-Hispanic Ruins Found On Mountaintop, 24 July 2020, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53498110
Whelan, Ed, 2020 Astonishing Zapotec Ruins and Carvings Found in Mexico, 25 July, 2020, www.ancient-origins.net
Wikipedia, Zapotec civilization, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapotec_civilization
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