The extraordinary Mesoamerican city of Monte Alban is one of the world’s great archeological treasures, legacy of the advanced Zapotec culture that dominated this part of Mexico well over one thousand years ago. Founded around 500 BC, most of the city was abandoned by 950 AD, though the Mixtecs later used it as a magnificent burial site, and the main structures were cleared and restored in the 1930s. Today it’s the great flattened mountain-top (750m by 250m), the scale of the monuments and the views over the valley that impress more than any individual aspect of the site. Late afternoon, as the sun sinks into the valley, is the best time to see it. It seems almost madness to have tried to build a city here, so far from the obvious livelihood of the valleys and without any natural water supply (in the dry season water was carried up and stored in vast urns). Yet that may have been the Zapotecs’ point to demonstrate their mastery of nature. By waging war on potential rivals, the new city soon came to dominate an area that extended well beyond the main valley the peculiar danzante figures carved in stone that you can see at the ruins today are widely considered to be depictions of prisoners captured in battle. By 200 AD, the population had expanded to such a degree that the Zapotecs endeavoured to level the Monte Albán spur completely to create more space, essentially forming a massive plateau. The resulting engineering project boggles the mind: without the aid of the wheel or beasts of burden, millions of tons of earth were shifted to build a vast, flat terrace on which the Zapotecs constructed colossal pyramids, astronomical observatories and palaces. What you see today is just the very centre of the city the religious and political heart the dominating apex of the region between 300 and 700 AD. On the terraced hillsides below lived a bustling population of between 25,000 and 30,000 craftsmen, priests, administrators and warriors, all of whom, presumably, were supported by tribute from the valleys. It’s small wonder that so top-heavy a society was easily destabilized. This said, there is still much speculation as to why, just like Teotihuacán, the site was ultimately abandoned.

You enter the site at its northeast corner. Sombre, grey and formal as it all appears now, in its heyday, with its roofs and sanctuaries intact, the whole place would have been brilliantly polychromed. The Plataforma Norte, straight ahead as you enter, may have been the most important of all the temples at Monte Albán, although now the ceremonial buildings that line its sides are largely ruined. What survives is a broad stairway leading up from the Gran Plaza to a platform enclosing a square patio with an altar at its heart. This ceremonial centre was constructed between 400 and 750 AD, when Monte Albán was at its zenith. At the top of the stairs are the remains of a double row of six broad columns, which would originally have supported a roof to form a colonnade, dividing this plaza from the main one. The main path takes you south along the eastern side of the Plataforma Norte to the Gran Plaza, the vast, ceremonial focus of the city surrounded by all the major buildings of Monte Albán. As you enter you’ll pass the Juego de Pelota (ballcourt), a simple I-shaped space with no apparent goals or target rings, obviously an early example. The ball-game was used as a means to solve conflict the losing team was sacrificed to the gods. The platforms on the east side of the plaza are relatively late constructions, dating from around 500 AD onwards. Facing them from the middle of the plaza is a long tripartite building (Edificios G, H and I) that must have played an important role in any rites celebrated here. The central section has broad staircases by which it can be approached from east or west the lower end temples have smaller stairways facing north and south. From here a complex of tunnels runs under the site to several of the other temples, presumably to allow the priests to emerge suddenly and miraculously in any one of them. You can see the remains of several of these tunnels among the buildings on the east side. South of this central block, Monticulo J, known as the observatory, stands alone in the centre of the plaza at 45 degrees to everything else and its arrow-shaped design marks it out from its surroundings.

Although the orientation is almost certainly for astronomical reasons, there’s no evidence that this was actually an observatory; more likely it was built (around 250 AD, but on the site of an earlier structure) to celebrate an earlier victory. The carvings and hieroglyphics on the back of the building apparently represent a list of towns captured by the Zapotecs: much of the imagery at Monte Albán points to a highly militaristic society. In the vaulted passage that runs through the heart of the building, several more panels carved in relief show danzante figures (dancers) these, often upside down or on their sides and in no particular order, may have been reused from an earlier building. The southern end of the Gran Plaza is dominated by its tallest structure, the unrestored Plataforma Sur, a vast square pyramid offering the best overview of the site, as well as fine panoramas of the surrounding countryside.

Heading from here back up the western side of the plaza, you’ll pass Monticulo M and Sistema IV, probably the best-preserved buildings on the site. Both consist of a rectangular platform reached by a stairway from the plaza. Between Monticulo M and Sistema IV, the gallery and building of Los Danzantes (the Dancers), are the most interesting features of Monte Albán. A low wall extending from Monticulo M to the base of the Danzantes building forms the gallery, originally faced all along with blocks carved in relief of “dancers”. Among the oldest (dating from around 500 BC) and most puzzling features of the site, only a few of these danzantes remain the originals are now all preserved in the museum. The significance of the nude male figures is disputed: many of them seem to have been cut open and may represent sacrificial victims or prisoners; another suggestion is that the entire wall was a sort of medical textbook, or that the figures really are dancers, ball-players or acrobats. Whatever the truth, they show clear Olmec influence, and many of them have been pressed into use in later buildings throughout the site.

Several lesser buildings surround the main plaza, many contain tombs in which rich treasures were discovered (as indeed did some of the main structures themselves). Tumba 104, reached by a small path behind the Plataforma Norte or from the main entrance, is the best preserved of these, with polychrome frescoes vividly revealing the mystical symbolism of the Zapotec gods. One of several in the immediate vicinity, this vaulted burial chamber still preserves excellent remains of murals. Tumba 7, where the important collection of Mixtec jewellery now in the Oaxaca Museum was found, lies a few hundred metres down the main road from the site entrance. Built underneath a small temple, it was originally constructed by the Zapotecs towards the end of Monte Albán’s heyday, but was later emptied by the Mixtecs, who buried one of their own chiefs here along with his magnificent burial trove.

The region around Oaxaca can be divided into two parts: the Valles Centrales (or Valle de Oaxaca), which radiate from the state capital to the south and east, towards Mitla, Ocotlán and Zaachila; and the Mixteca, which extends northwest towards Puebla and arcs down to the Pacific coast via Tlaxiaco and Pinotepa Nacional. The Valles Centrales include the state’s most famous and frequented archeological centres, craft villages and colourful markets, while the Mixteca, rich in ruined Dominican convents and ancient towns and villages, is less visited but well worth exploring. This area saw the development of some of the most highly advanced civilizations in pre-Hispanic Mexico, most notably the Zapotecs and Mixtecs. Their craft skills particularly Mixtec weaving, pottery and metalworking were unrivalled, and the architecture and planning of their cities stand out among ancient Mexico’s greatest achievements. Traditional ways of life and indigenous languages are still vigorously preserved by Mixtec and Zapotec descendants in villages today. The Valles Centrales are the cradle of some of the earliest civilizations in Mexico. The story begins with the Zapotecs, who founded their first city now called San José Mogoté and little more than a collection of mounds a few kilometres north of the state capital some time before 1000 BC. As the city grew in wealth, trading with Pacific coastal communities, its inhabitants turned their eyes to the stars, and by 500 BC they had invented the first Mexican calendar and were using hieroglyphic writing. At this time, San José, together with smaller villages in the area, established a new administrative capital at Monte Albán, a vantage point on a mountain spur overlooking the principal Oaxaca valley. Just like Teotihuacán, Monte Albán mysteriously began to implode from about 700 AD, and the Zapotec influence across the Valles Centrales waned. Only Yagul and Mitla, two smaller cities in the principal valley, expanded after this date, though they never reached the imperial glory of Monte Albán. As the Zapotecs disappeared, the gap they left behind was slowly filled by the Mixtecs, pre-Hispanic Mexico’s finest craftsmen, who expanded into the southern valleys from the north to occupy the Zapotecs’ magnificent cities. Influenced by the Zapotec sculptors’ abstract motifs on the walls at Mitla, the Mixtecs concentrated their artistic skills on metalwork and pottery, examples of which can be seen in the state capital’s museums. By the fifteenth century, the Mixtecs had become the favoured artisans to Mexico’s greatest empire, their conquerors, the Aztecs; Bernal Díaz recounts that Moctezuma only ate from plates fashioned by Mixtec craftsmen.

Indigenous communities in the mountains and valleys of Oaxaca have been developing their ecotourism potential since the 1990s, when the Tourist Yú’ù (pronounced YOU) Zapotec for “house” programme was established. These small, selfcontained cabañas ecoturísticas were designed to bring income to the local villages while minimizing the disruptive effects of mass tourism. These days many villages organize tours (from hiking and fishing to adventure sports and horseriding) and some sort of “community lodging”, from homestays to simple but comfy cabins usually arranged through a Comité local de Ecoturismo. Either type of accommodation makes a convenient and economical base for exploring the villages and archeological sites of Oaxaca State. Many communities have particular handicraft traditions, such as carpet-weaving, wickerwork or pottery; others have museums devoted to local archeological finds and the life of the villagers. The best place for information and reservations ideally made a few days in advance, especially for the more accessible sites is Oaxaca’s tourist offices at Independencia 607 or Juárez 703. For the Sierra Norte and the Pueblos Mancomunados contact Expediciones Sierra Norte, which coordinates all the local community programmes in that area. For Ixtlán contact Ecoturixtlán directly. Cabins are provided with a bedroom, a fully equipped kitchen and outside shower and toilets (which can also be used by people camping in the grounds).