Context Plan, Monte Alban.jpg

MONTE ALBÁN

MONTE ALBÁN [Ithaca, NY]

Critic: Arthur Ovaska @ Cornell AAP | Fall 2010 | Team Lead. Collaboration with Maria Paula Villarraga, Charlotte Firestone, and Manuela Garcia

An investigation into the site context of the ancient capital of the Zapotecs—an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that originated in the Valley of Oaxaca. One of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán was founded on 500 BC and flourished until 750 AD; built atop an artificially-leveled mountain ridge that rises above the plain in the central section of the valley.