Gazing westward from the colonial heart of Oaxaca de Juárez in southern Mexico, the eye is drawn to a rugged mountain ridge whose natural peak was sheared flat in antiquity to form a vast horizontal plateau suspended against the clouds at 1,940 meters above sea level, four hundred meters above the surrounding valley floor. That sculpted summit is the Ancient Sacred Site of Monte Albán, the earliest planned urban capital in Mesoamerica and for more than thirteen centuries the political and spiritual heart of the Zapotec civilization, who call themselves in their own language Binnizá (meaning The Cloud People). Stepping onto the expansive Great Plaza at the crest of the ridge, where sheer slopes drop away on all four sides into a 360-degree panorama encompassing the Etla, Tlacolula, and Zimatlán valleys, a visitor immediately grasps why ancient peoples revered this mountaintop as the meeting threshold of earth and sky.
Within the ancestral veneration and agricultural deity traditions of ancient America, Monte Albán holds a foundational rank: established around 500 BCE (four centuries before the rise of the Pyramids of Teotihuacan and more than a millennium before the flowering of Chichén Itzá), this mountaintop city was one of the primary cradles in the Western Hemisphere for the invention of hieroglyphic writing, the 260-day sacred calendar (Piye), and the 365-day solar calendar (Yza). Moreover, with nearly two hundred subterranean stone-built family tombs constructed directly beneath residential palaces so living descendants could commune with their forebears, crowned by the dazzling Mixtec gold and turquoise treasure of Tomb 7 excavated by Alfonso Caso in 1932, Monte Albán stands as an enduring monument to ancestral reverence and cosmic order, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 (Ref. 415).
IThe Lightning and Rain God Cocijo, the Supreme Creator Coquihani, and Communion with the Deified Cloud Ancestors
Long before sixteenth-century Spaniards named the ridge Monte Albán (variously attributed to a Spanish soldier named Montalbán or to the white-blossoming cazahuate trees and the Alban Hills of Italy), the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca revered the mountain under sacred indigenous names. The Zapotecs (Binnizá) called their ancient capital Dani Baá or Danibaan, meaning Sacred Mountain or Hill of the Tombs, while the Mixtecs (Ñuu Dzahui, People of the Rain) knew it as Sahandevui (At the Foot of Heaven) or Yucucui (Green Hill).
Presiding over the Zapotec pantheon at Dani Baá was the uncreated, invisible supreme principle Coquihani (or Pije-Tao, Supreme Breath and Cosmic Light), while the deity most intimately invoked across every temple and household altar was Cocijo, the God of Lightning, Thunder, and Rain (counterpart of Central Mexican Tlaloc and Maya Chaac). Modeled on hundreds of ceramic effigy urns excavated across Monte Albán, Cocijo combines the fierce brow of a jaguar with the undulating fangs and bifurcated tongue of a rattlesnake flashing lightning, crowned by the sacred Glyph C headdress representing water and the cycle of time. Venerated alongside Cocijo were Pitao Cozobi (the God of Abundant Maize), the Bat God and Young Maize Deity (immortalized in the famous mosaic mask composed of 25 polished green jadeite plaques with shell eyes and teeth unearthed in Mound H), and the Fanged Jaguar Lord of the Earth and War (Pitao Peeze).
The defining spiritual pillar of Monte Albán was Royal and Lineage Ancestor Veneration. In ancient Zapotec theology, deceased kings, queens, and lineage elders did not vanish into an unreachable realm; rather, they transformed into Ben Zaa (Cloud Ancestors) who ascended to dwell among the mountain mists and storm clouds, where they interceded directly with the Lightning God Cocijo to bring seasonal rains, protect the community's territory, and bless their descendants.
Because of this living bond between the dead and the living, the inhabitants of Monte Albán did not banish cemeteries outside the city walls; instead, they built subterranean masonry tombs fitted with movable stone doors directly beneath the central courtyards of their own palaces and residences. When a ruler or family head died, the body was placed inside the sub-patio crypt surrounded by ceramic ancestor-companion effigy urns (acompañantes) depicting the supernatural patron (tona or nahual) of their birth day. Generations later, during subsequent burials or seasonal feasts, descendants reopened the tomb entrance, carefully stacked the bones of earlier ancestors in side niches, dusted them with bright red cinnabar pigment symbolizing vital blood and rebirth, burned copal incense, and consulted the ancestors through ritual specialists before undertaking marriages, treaties, or planting.
Some of the oldest preserved written inscriptions in the entire Western Hemisphere are carved directly onto the more than 300 monolithic stone slabs of the Building of the Dancers (Edificio de los Danzantes) dating to Monte Albán Period I (circa 500 to 200 BCE), followed by the conquest slabs of Building J (Monte Albán Period II, circa 100 BCE to 200 CE). Pioneering Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso (1896 to 1970), who directed eighteen field seasons at Monte Albán between 1931 and 1949, first deciphered the Zapotec script and calendrical notation on these monuments: using bar-and-dot numerals (where a dot equals 1 and a bar equals 5) paired with twenty day-signs and four year-bearers, Zapotec scribes recorded dates in the 260-day ritual calendar (Piye) and the 365-day solar calendar (Yza), alongside logographic and phonetic glyphs naming rulers, captured lords, conquered towns, and royal ceremonies.
Complementing the stone inscriptions, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century colonial sources, most notably the 1578 Zapotec grammar and dictionary (Arte en lengua zapoteca and Vocabulario en lengua çapoteca) compiled by Dominican friar Juan de Córdova (who resided at the Convent of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca) and the 1674 Geográfica Descripción of Fray Francisco de Burgoa, document how Zapotec and Mixtec nobles continued to revere ancestral mountain tombs and maintain their 260-day sacred calendar.
When nineteenth-century travelers beheld the more than three hundred carved stone slabs lining the southwestern flank of the Great Plaza, depicting naked human figures with twisted limbs, contorted torsos, and closed eyes, they imagined them to be joyful ritual dancers and named them Los Danzantes (The Dancers). Modern archaeological and epigraphic research (by Alfonso Caso, Joyce Marcus, and Kent Flannery) has demonstrated that these contorted, lifeless figures with scroll-like streams of sacrificial blood are not dancers at all, but monumental portraits of rival chiefs and noble captives taken in battle and sacrificed by Monte Albán's early rulers during the unification of the Oaxaca valleys between 500 and 200 BCE.
IIOver Two Millennia from the First Zapotec Mountaintop Metropolis to the 1932 Discovery of Mixtec Tomb 7
Archaeologists Alfonso Caso and Ignacio Bernal divided the two-thousand-year occupation of Monte Albán into five major chronological epochs (Monte Albán I through V) spanning from 500 BCE to the Spanish arrival in 1521 CE. Around 500 BCE, Zapotec farming chiefdoms scattered across the three arms of the Oaxaca Valley (previously centered at valley-floor villages such as San José Mogote) undertook an extraordinary collective enterprise: they founded a new confederated capital atop the unoccupied, politically neutral 1,940-meter ridge of Dani Baá (Monte Albán). Using only stone axes, wooden digging sticks, and woven carrying baskets, thousands of workers leveled the jagged rocky summit to create the 6-hectare Great Plaza and sculpted more than two thousand residential and agricultural terraces down the steep mountain flanks to house an initial population of 10,000 to 17,000 inhabitants.
During the Classic Period (Monte Albán IIIA and IIIB, circa 200 to 800 CE), the mountaintop metropolis reached its zenith with a population of 25,000 to 30,000 residents, maintaining a peaceful diplomatic relationship with the central Mexican superpower of Teotihuacan (an entire Oaxacan enclave flourished inside Teotihuacan, while the carved Lápida de Bazán at Monte Albán commemorates a diplomatic embassy between ambassadors of the two cities). Between roughly 800 and 900 CE, as political power fragmented among smaller valley-floor city-states such as Zaachila, Mitla, Lambityeco, and Yagul, Monte Albán's residential terraces were gradually vacated, yet the summit remained a revered Sacred Mountain of the Ancestors. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries (Monte Albán V), Mixtec royal lineages who intermarried with Zapotec nobility selected the ancient platforms of Monte Albán as their supreme royal burial ground, depositing the dazzling gold and turquoise offerings discovered in Tomb 7.
- Circa 500 to 200 BCE (Monte Albán I)Zapotec communities level the summit of Dani Baá and erect the Building of the DancersZapotec lineages unite to establish a new capital atop the 1,940-meter ridge overlooking all three branches of the Oaxaca Valley, erecting the earliest phase of Building L lined with over 300 carved Los Danzantes slabs bearing Mesoamerica's earliest hieroglyphs.
- Circa 100 BCE to 200 CE (Monte Albán II)Construction of the arrowhead-shaped Building J Observatory and Zapotec territorial expansionAt the southern center of the Great Plaza, architects construct the pentagonal Building J rotated 45 degrees to the main grid, setting over 40 carved Conquest Slabs into its outer walls to record subjugated provinces.
- 200 to 800 CE (Monte Albán IIIA and IIIB)Classic Period Golden Age, diplomacy with Teotihuacan, and completion of the Great PlazaMonte Albán reaches 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants; the monumental North and South Platforms, the I-shaped Ballcourt, and nearly 200 subterranean mural-painted Zapotec tombs (such as Tombs 104 and 105) are completed.
- Circa 800 to 900 CE (Monte Albán IV)Political decentralization to valley city-states while the summit remains a sacred shrinePopulation and administrative power shift to valley centers such as Mitla, Zaachila, and Lambityeco, while priests and pilgrims continue to ascend Monte Albán to leave offerings at the ancestral temples.
- 13th to early 16th century (Monte Albán V)Mixtec royal lineages reuse the ancient summit tombs and deposit the Treasure of Tomb 7Mixtec nobles ruling in the Oaxaca Valley adopt Monte Albán as a hallowed royal necropolis, interring nine high-ranking royals with extraordinary gold, silver, jade, and carved jaguar-bone treasures inside Tomb 7.
- January 9, 1932 and 1987Alfonso Caso discovers the Treasure of Tomb 7 (1932) and UNESCO World Heritage inscription (1987)On January 9, 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso uncovers the intact Mixtec royal burial in Tomb 7; in 1987 UNESCO inscribes Monte Albán and the Historic Centre of Oaxaca as a World Heritage Site (Ref. 415).
The night of January 9, 1932 and Alfonso Caso's discovery of the Treasure of Tomb 7. In early January 1932, during his second excavation season along a low elite residential mound just north of the road entering the Great Plaza, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso, accompanied by his wife María Lombardo and assistants Juan Valenzuela and Martín Bazán, uncovered the stone roof of a Classic Zapotec subterranean tomb designated Tomb 7 (Tumba 7). At 4:00 PM on January 9, 1932, after removing a keystone from the vaulted ceiling and shining a flashlight into the dark chamber below, Caso saw the gleam of gold beads and a turquoise-encrusted human skull resting on the floor. Descending through the narrow opening, Caso, María Lombardo, and their team worked day and night for seven straight days to map and recover the richest pre-Hispanic royal treasure ever excavated in Mesoamerica.
Originally constructed by Zapotec nobles in the Classic era, Tomb 7 had been reopened in the fourteenth or fifteenth century by Mixtec royals to inter nine high-ranking individuals alongside more than 500 masterworks of Mesoamerican lapidary and metallurgical art. Highlights of the treasure include the famous lost-wax cast gold pectoral of the Death and Solar Lord (Mictlantecuhtli) weighing 112 grams and inscribed with both Zapotec and Mixtec calendar glyphs; a human skull covered in a mosaic of turquoise plaques with shell eyes; gold finger rings cast in filigree with descending eagles; a goblet hollowed out of solid transparent rock crystal (one of the hardest minerals on earth, requiring years of patient abrasion with quartz sand and reed drills); silver and alabaster bowls; necklaces of marine pearls, jet, amber, and hundreds of cast gold jaguar-tooth beads; and 34 carved jaguar bones incised with microscopic Mixtec codex-style scenes of cosmic creation, royal genealogies, and calendar dates against a background inlaid with turquoise. The entire treasure of Tomb 7 is permanently exhibited in the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures inside the former cloister of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in downtown Oaxaca.
IIIThe Summit Great Plaza, North and South Platforms, Building of the Dancers, Building J Observatory, and Royal Tombs
The urban and ceremonial heart of Monte Albán is the Great Plaza (Gran Plaza), a monumental artificial esplanade measuring roughly 300 meters from north to south and 200 meters from east to west, created by chiseling down protruding bedrock outcrops and building massive stone retaining walls along the mountain edges. Distinct from both Teotihuacan and the Maya lowlands, the classic architectural signature of Monte Albán is its broad monumental stone staircases (spanning up to 37 meters wide) flanked by wide sloping balustrades (alfardas) and stepped pyramid tiers crowned by the Oaxacan Double-Scapular Panel (Tablero de Doble Escapulario): a recessed double-stepped horizontal molding that casts bold geometric bands of shadow under the high Oaxacan sun while maintaining a low, earthquake-resistant center of gravity in a highly seismic zone.
Sealing the northern and southern ends of the Great Plaza rise two colossal acropolis platforms (the North Platform for royal residence, governance, and celestial ritual, and the South Platform for public ceremonial assemblies), while symmetrical rows of temple-palace complexes line the eastern and western edges, and a central spine of three linked mounds (Buildings G, H, and I) plus the angled Building J Observatory runs down the middle of the plaza.
Occupying the entire northern end of the Great Plaza, the North Platform is the largest architectural complex at Monte Albán (measuring roughly 250 by 200 meters, covering nearly 50,000 square meters), serving as the restricted royal citadel and supreme ceremonial acropolis of the Zapotec kings. A monumental 37-meter-wide staircase ascends from the Great Plaza to a lofty portico supported by 12 massive circular masonry columns that once held a roof. Immediately behind this colonnade opens a square Sunken Patio (Patio Hundido) accessed by four staircases descending to a central altar, surrounded by elevated temple pyramids (Mounds A and B) and royal palace compounds.
Rising near the southwestern corner of the Great Plaza is Building L, the Building of the Dancers, whose earliest core dates to Monte Albán I (500 to 200 BCE), making it one of the oldest monumental stone buildings in Mesoamerica. Set along the base and eastern gallery of this platform are hundreds of carved orthostat stone slabs known as Los Danzantes (over 300 slabs have been cataloged on site, many reused in later construction phases). Each slab portrays a naked, contorted captive lord accompanied by sacrificial blood scrolls and some of the earliest hieroglyphic names and calendar dates in the Americas.
Standing near the southern end of the central plaza spine is Building J (constructed in Monte Albán II, c. 100 BCE to 200 CE), the most striking structure on the mountain: its ground plan forms a sharp five-sided arrowhead (matching the Zapotec hieroglyph for Hill or Building) and its entire axis is rotated 45 degrees toward the southwest in stark contrast to the North-South grid of the Great Plaza. Piercing the masonry core is a narrow vaulted observation tunnel with a vertical skylight shaft used by astronomer-priests to track the setting of the bright star Capella (which heralded the May solar zenith passage) while the rear staircase points northeast toward a niche in Building P to mark equinox sunrises. Set into the exterior walls of Building J are over 40 carved Conquest Slabs depicting inverted human heads beneath hill glyphs naming subject territories.
Flanking Building L along the western side of the Great Plaza stand two symmetrical, self-contained ritual precincts known as System IV (to the north) and System M (to the south). Each complex exemplifies the Classic Zapotec Temple-Patio-Altar layout: a main western pyramid temple faces an enclosed square sunken courtyard with a central sacrificial altar, screened off from the public Great Plaza on the east by a high barrier wall that ensured privacy for elite bloodletting and divination rites.
Anchoring the southern terminus of the Great Plaza is the South Platform, the tallest single structure at Monte Albán, rising 40 meters above the plaza floor on a two-tiered base measuring 140 by 100 meters and supporting two temple mounds at its summit. Set into the lower corners of this platform are carved relief stelae depicting jaguar deities and bound captives, while its upper terrace commands a sweeping 360-degree view across the entire Great Plaza and the three valleys below.
At the northeastern corner of the Great Plaza lies the Great Ballcourt (Juego de Pelota Grande), built on a classic capital-I plan with sloping stone-veneered side walls roughly 40 meters long and corner scoring discs rather than vertical stone rings. Scattered beneath residential palace patios across the surrounding terraces are nearly 200 subterranean Zapotec masonry tombs, most notably Tomb 104 (preserving a ceramic urn of the Young Maize God above its stone door lintel and vivid polychrome wall murals of Zapotec deities and glyphs inside), Tomb 105, and Tomb 7.
| Monument | Period, dimensions, and key features | Verified source |
|---|---|---|
| The Great Plaza (Gran Plaza) | 300 m (North-South) x 200 m (East-West) leveled summit plateau at 1,940 m elevation | National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and UNESCO (Ref. 415) |
| Building of the Dancers (Building L) | Monte Albán I (500 to 200 BCE); over 300 carved captive slabs with earliest Mesoamerican script | Archaeological monographs by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Joyce Marcus |
| Building J Observatory (Edificio J) | Monte Albán II (100 BCE to 200 CE); arrowhead plan rotated 45°, with >40 carved Conquest Slabs | Archaeoastronomical studies by Anthony Aveni and Horst Hartung |
| North and South Platforms | North Platform 250 m x 200 m with 37 m stair and 12 round columns; South Platform 40 m high | Zona Arqueológica de Monte Albán Architectural Dossier (INAH) |
| Subterranean Royal Tombs and Tomb 7 | Nearly 200 Zapotec masonry tombs with murals (Tombs 104, 105); Mixtec Tomb 7 with >500 gold and jade works | Alfonso Caso, El Tesoro de Monte Albán (INAH, 1969) and Museum of Oaxacan Cultures |
IVThe Lie of the Land
Ancient Zapotec planners did not use East Asian compass geomancy, designing their sacred mountaintop capital of Dani Baá (Monte Albán) instead as a Cosmic Axis Peak (Axis Mundi) integrated with Tropical Horizon and Zenith Astronomy (tracking solar zenith passages and equinoxes through sightlines linking Building J and Building P). Below is a comparative reading of Monte Albán's macro-topography through the library's traditional landform framework.
Examined on the topographic map of southern Mexico at coordinates 17.0439 degrees north, 96.7678 degrees west, few ancient capitals on earth occupy a more commanding central pearl peak at the convergence of three valleys than Monte Albán. The Central Valleys of Oaxaca form a vast Y-shaped intermontane basin ringed by the high cordilleras of the Sierra Madre del Sur and the Sierra Juárez (Sierra Norte), where three fertile alluvial arms meet at a single central hub: the Etla Valley descending from the northwest, the Tlacolula Valley extending to the east, and the Zimatlán-Ocotlán Valley (Valle Grande) running southward. Rising directly out of the exact Y-junction of these three valleys is a cluster of steep limestone ridges (Monte Albán, El Gallo, Bonete, and Atzompa) soaring 400 meters above the valley floor to an elevation of 1,940 meters above sea level. Read through classical landform principles, while the outer Sierra Madre ranges form a grand Outer Ring Wall (Luo Cheng) sheltering the basin, the leveled summit of Monte Albán stands at the center of the three valleys like an Imperial Pearl Peak poised within the Bright Hall (Ming Tang), commanding unobstructed sightlines for tens of kilometers down all three valley corridors.
In terms of water configuration, the Atoyac River flows down from the northwestern Etla Valley, curves in a broad arc around the northern and eastern base of Monte Albán (where the city of Oaxaca de Juárez sits today), receives the Salado River flowing from the eastern Tlacolula Valley, and continues southward down the Zimatlán arm, wrapping the sacred mountain in a protective Jade Belt Waterway (Yu Dai Shui). In terms of axial and astronomical orientation, the 300-meter Great Plaza and its principal platforms run along a true North-to-South axis (tilted slightly 5 to 7 degrees east of magnetic north). Within this orthogonal frame, the arrowhead-shaped Building J is rotated 45 degrees toward the southwest, while its rear staircase points northeast directly toward a recessed sighting chamber inside Building P on the eastern side of the plaza. Through this dual astronomical alignment, on the Spring Equinox (March 21) and Autumn Equinox (September 23) the Sun rises directly over Building P as viewed from Building J; and on the two annual days of the Solar Zenith Passage at Monte Albán's latitude of 17.04 degrees north (May 8 and August 5), the midday sun shines straight down at a 90-degree vertical angle through the zenith tube inside Building P without casting a shadow, signaling the exact ritual moment to petition the Rain God Cocijo at the onset of the agricultural planting season.
VThe May Solar Zenith Passage, Equinox Alignments, and the Living Zapotec and Mixtec Guelaguetza Tradition
Today, the Monte Albán Archaeological Zone (administered by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH) stands not only as the premier archaeological monument of Oaxaca, but also as the ancestral symbol of Oaxaca's sixteen indigenous peoples, above all the Zapotec and Mixtec communities. The table below summarizes the key astronomical alignments and cultural celebrations connected with Monte Albán throughout the year.
| Date | Calendar system | Astronomical alignment or festival | Observances at Monte Albán and across the Oaxaca Valley |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 20 or 21 annually | Solar Calendar (Spring Equinox) and Zapotec Yza Calendar | Spring Equinox Sunrise Alignment on the Great Plaza (Equinoccio de Primavera) | Thousands of Oaxacan citizens and visitors ascend to the Great Plaza of Monte Albán at dawn to witness the equinox sun rise over Building P along the sightline from Building J and welcome the renewal of spring. |
| May 8 and August 5 annually (at solar noon) | Tropical Astronomical Calendar and 260-Day Sacred Calendar (Piye) | Solar Zenith Passage in the Chamber of Building P (Paso Cenital del Sol) | At solar noon at latitude 17.04° North, the Sun stands directly overhead at 90 degrees above Monte Albán, sending a vertical shaft of sunlight straight down the zenith sighting tube into the dark subterranean chamber of Building P, historically marking the start of the maize planting rains. |
| The two Mondays following July 16 annually | Gregorian Calendar and Oaxacan Indigenous Tradition | The Guelaguetza Festival (Los Lunes del Cerro, Mondays on the Hill) | Mexico's most celebrated indigenous cultural festival, rooted in pre-Hispanic hillside offerings to the Maize Deity Cozobi / Xilonen; delegations from Oaxaca's 8 regions and 16 indigenous nations gather to perform the Zapotec Feather Dance (Danza de la Pluma) and share communal gifts (guelaguetza in Zapotec means reciprocal mutual aid). |
| October 31 to November 2 annually | Gregorian Calendar and Indigenous Ancestor Veneration | Oaxacan Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos / Xandu in Zapotec) | Continuing the ancient Zapotec bond between the living and the ancestors entombed at Monte Albán, communities across the valley build multi-tiered marigold (cempasúchil) altars and hold all-night candlelit vigils at the Xoxocotlán cemeteries directly at the foot of Monte Albán. |
| January 9 and December 11 annually | Gregorian Calendar | Anniversary of the 1932 Tomb 7 Discovery (January 9) and UNESCO Inscription (December 11, 1987) | The Monte Albán Site Museum and the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures (at the Santo Domingo Convent) host archaeological lectures and exhibitions celebrating Zapotec epigraphy, Mixtec goldwork, and the legacy of Alfonso Caso. |
From the summit of Dani Baá to the Tomb 7 Treasury at Santo Domingo in Oaxaca. To experience the full story of Monte Albán, after walking the Great Plaza and visiting the on-site Monte Albán Museum at the park entrance (which houses the original carved Los Danzantes stelae and the Lápida de Bazán), visitors should visit the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures housed in the former cloister of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in downtown Oaxaca, where all 500 gold, silver, turquoise, rock crystal, and carved jaguar-bone treasures from Tomb 7 are displayed.
More than two thousand five hundred years after Zapotec builders first leveled the summit of Dani Baá among the clouds, Monte Albán still reigns above the three valleys of Oaxaca as a timeless testament to Mesoamerican astronomical science, civic vision, and reverence for the ancestors.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Carretera a Monte Albán s/n, San Pedro Ixtlahuaca and Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca State, Mexico
- Getting there
- The Monte Albán Archaeological Zone lies just 9 kilometers west of the central Zócalo of Oaxaca de Juárez along a scenic winding mountain road (approximately 20 to 25 minutes by road). Dedicated tourist shuttle buses (Autobuses Turísticos a Monte Albán) depart hourly throughout the morning and early afternoon from downtown Oaxaca (a few blocks west of the Zócalo and Santo Domingo, near Calle Mina 518 at the corner of Díaz Ordaz) and return from the site parking lot at scheduled intervals. Official municipal taxis and ride-shares from central Oaxaca also reach the summit entrance gate in about 20 minutes.
- Coordinates
- 17.0439, -96.7678
The Monte Albán Archaeological Zone occupies an open, wind-swept mountaintop plateau at 1,940 meters above sea level with intense highland sunlight and minimal shade across the Great Plaza. Visitors should wear a wide-brimmed hat with a chin strap, sunglasses, high-SPF sunscreen, and sturdy walking shoes for climbing the steep stone steps of the North and South Platforms, and carry plenty of drinking water in a reusable bottle. Visitors are permitted to climb to the upper terraces of the North Platform and South Platform for panoramic views, but must never cross protective barriers around the carved Los Danzantes stones or enter closed subterranean tombs. Be sure to visit the excellent Monte Albán Site Museum (included in the admission ticket) just inside the main entrance gate before or after exploring the plaza.
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?Quick Questions
Who built Monte Albán, and what was its original indigenous name?
Monte Albán was founded around 500 BCE by the Zapotec people (who call themselves Binnizá, meaning The Cloud People) and flourished for over 1,300 years until roughly 850 CE. The Zapotecs called their sacred mountaintop capital Dani Baá (Sacred Mountain), while the Mixtecs who later buried their royals there called it Sahandevui (At the Foot of Heaven) or Yucucui (Green Hill).
Why is Monte Albán considered Mesoamerica's first planned city and a cradle of writing?
Founded around 500 BCE (roughly four centuries before Teotihuacan), Monte Albán was the first urban center in Mesoamerica to undertake monumental mountaintop engineering, leveling a 1,940-meter ridge to create the 300-by-200-meter Great Plaza surrounded by over 2,000 residential terraces. Furthermore, the more than 300 carved stone slabs of Building L (Los Danzantes, 500 to 200 BCE) preserve some of the earliest hieroglyphic writing and 260-day calendar dates in the Western Hemisphere.
Who are the figures carved on the more than 300 Los Danzantes stone slabs?
Although nineteenth-century visitors named the carved slabs Los Danzantes (The Dancers) because of the figures' twisted limbs and dynamic poses, modern archaeological and epigraphic studies have proven that they depict naked, contorted, and sacrificed captive chiefs and warriors from rival towns defeated by Monte Albán's early rulers during the unification of the Oaxaca Valley.
Why is Building J shaped like an arrowhead and rotated 45 degrees in the Great Plaza?
Constructed during Monte Albán II (circa 100 BCE to 200 CE), Building J has a five-sided arrowhead ground plan rotated 45 degrees relative to the North-South axis of the Great Plaza to serve as an astronomical observatory: its southwestern point aligns with the setting of the bright star Capella (which announced the May solar zenith passage), while its northeastern staircase points directly toward a sighting niche in Building P where the Sun rises on the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.
When was the Treasure of Tomb 7 discovered at Monte Albán, and where is it displayed today?
On January 9, 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso discovered the intact burial inside Tomb 7 at Monte Albán, a Classic Zapotec subterranean tomb reused in the 14th or 15th century by Mixtec royals to inter nine nobles alongside more than 500 masterpieces of cast gold, silver, turquoise mosaic, rock crystal, pearls, and 34 intricately carved jaguar bones. Today, the entire Treasure of Tomb 7 is exhibited at the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures inside the former Convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in downtown Oaxaca.