- Monte Albán
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/mawn"te ahl bahn"/a major ceremonial center of the Zapotec culture, near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico, occupied from 600 B.C. to A.D. 700.
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Ridgetop site of the ruins of the ancient centre of Zapotec culture, located near Oaxaca, Mex.Construction at the site began around the 8th century BC. Monte Albán reached its height AD 250–700. The site contains great plazas, truncated pyramids, a tlachtli court for an ancient ballgame, underground passageways, and about 170 tombs, the most elaborate yet uncovered in the New World. The great plaza atop the highest hill is flanked by four platforms; two temples stand on the platform to the south. In its final phase, Monte Albán was inhabited by the Mixtec.* * *
▪ archaeological site, Mexicosite of ruins of an ancient centre of Zapotec and Mixtec culture, located in what is now Oaxaca state, Mexico. The initial construction at the site has been placed at c. the 8th century BC. It contains great plazas, truncated pyramids, a court for playing the ball game tlachtli, underground passageways, and about 170 tombs, the most elaborate yet uncovered in the Americas. The site is located on high ground, probably chosen for its defensibility. The great plaza atop the highest hill is flanked by four platforms; two temples stand on the platform to the south.During the first two phases of Monte Albán culture, temples and other structures were built with dressed stone. Zapotec occupation of the site may be dated with certainty by about the 1st century BC. The beginning of the third and most flourishing phase of Monte Albán corresponds to the Classic Period (AD 300–900). The influence of the Teotihuacán architectural style is quite evident; the zenith of the period was reached c. AD 500. During the ensuing fourth period, about which little is known, Monte Albán lost its political preeminence, and its structures began to decay. In the final phase, which lasted up to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the Mixtec inhabited the site; they reused some of the old Zapotec tombs, and the two cultures became fused.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
