Zapotec Civilization - History

History

Zapotec civilization had its beginnings in the Oaxaca valley in the late 6th Century BC. The three branches of the valley were divided between three (3) different sized societies, separated by 80 km2 “no-man’s-land” in the central valley. Archaeological evidence from the period, such as burned temples and sacrificed captives, suggest that the three societies were in some sort of competition. At the end of the Rosario phase (700–500 BC), something happened, the valley's largest settlement San José Mogote, and other nearby settlement in the Etla valley arm, lost most of its population. During the same period a new large settlement emerged in the “no-man’s-land” in the middle of the Oaxaca Valley, that settlement, which was constructed on top of a mountain overlooking the three arms of the valley was Monte Albán. Similarities between the pottery of San José Mogote and at early Monte Albán indicate that the people who populated Monte Albán were the people who had left San José Mogote. Archaeologists Joyce Marcus and Kent V. Flannery argue that this process is similar to the process of synoikism of ancient Greece, that is a centralization of smaller dispersed populations in one central city, often in order to meet an external threat. Even though there are no direct evidence for such an external threat in the early phases of Monte Albáns history, walls and fortifications built around the site during the archaeological phase Monte Alban 2( ca.100 BC -AD 200), suggest that the construction of the city may have been a response to a military threat.

The Zapotec state formed at Monte Albán began an expansion during the late Monte Alban 1 phase (400–100 BC) and throughout the Monte Alban 2 phase (100 BC – AD 200). Zapotec rulers began to seize control over the provinces outside the valley of Oaxaca. They could do this during Monte Alban 1c (roughly 200 BC) to Monte Alban 2 (200 BC – AD 100) because none of the surrounding provinces could compete with the valley of Oaxaca both politically and militarily. By 200 AD the Zapotecs had extended their influence, from Quiotepec in the north to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the south. Monte Albán had become the largest city in the southern Mexican highland, and so it remained until approximately 700 AD.

The expansion of the Zapotec empire peaked during the Monte Alban II phase. Zapotecs conquered or colonised settlements far beyond The Valley of Oaxaca. This expansion is visible in several ways, most important is the sudden change of ceramics found in regions outside the valley. These regions previously had their own unique styles which were suddenly replaced with Zapotec style pottery, indicating that they had become part of the Zapotec empire.

Archaeologist Alfonso Caso, who was one of the first to do excavations in Monte Albán, argued that a building on the main plaza of Monte Albán is further evidence for the dramatic expansion of the Zapotec state. The building, which today is referred to as building J, is shaped like an arrowhead and displays more than 40 carved stones with hieroglyphic writing. The stones have been interpreted by archaeologists to be the place names of provinces that were claimed by the Zapotecs of Monte Albán. In addition to the place names, each glyph group also depicts a head with an elaborate head dress carved into the slabs. This is assumed to illustrate the rulers of the provinces who were taken over. The stones which show a head turned upside down is believed to have been taken by force, and the ones which aren’t turned upside down may not have resisted the colonization, and therefore haven’t been killed. For this reason building J is also called “The Conquest Slab”

About the subsequent dramatic expansion of the Monte Albán state within Oaxaca Marcus and Flannery write: " a great disparity in populations between the core of a state and its periphery, it may only be necessary for the former to send colonist to the latter. Small polities, seeing that resistance would be futile, may accept a face-saving offer. Larger polities unwilling to lose their autonomy may have to be subdued militarily. During the expansion of Monte Alban 2 state, we think we see both colonization and conquest".