swinging the view to the left in the sunken plaza on top...
moving more to the left of the sunken plaza
left side of sunken plaza on the upper level of the north...
top temple on the north side
another temple on the side of the upper platform on the north...
looking over the edge of the top of the north side down...
shifting the view to the right showing the temples in the middle...
the far right side of the main plaza
edge of north platform stairs are on the left and the upper...
closer view of temples on the right side looking from the top...
looking between the middle temples and right hand side to the south...
tomb beyond gate
door in the temple of the dancers
dancer carving at the bottom of the building
dancer carvings inside a room, latest theory is thay are medical records...
another stone carving in the room
the were first called dancers because they looked like they might be...
the second row of dancers with small horizontal ones in between
close up of horizontal dancer on wall
stones leaning up against the wall of the building
this one is wearing a false beard
some of these figures have very easy identified deformaties
alot of the figures have Olemec faces from the gulf coast
this one looks hunchbacked, has little legs and large head
the glyphs on this one have not been translated as of yet
another figure
the next one in the long line of carved figures
another false beard and insides showing
you make a guess
This one was explained to be a woman giving breech birth, with...
another set of un translated stones
the ball court, no rings and very sloped sides
getting a shot of the whole court, which makes it smaller than...
entrance to the court is the stairs on the side
standing on the right side stairs looking across the main plaza to...
shifting the view to the left side with the middle section and...
the arrow building that is the observatory in front of south temple
another view of arrow building showing the point
standing on the top platform of the south temple, I've climbed enough,...
looking from the top of the south temple to the right side...
swing the view to the middle showing the north plaza in the...
the middle section showing the arrow building in the front, the north...
far side of the site with the dancer building on the far...
looking down the stairs to the south temple to the dancer building...
at the bottom of the south temple stairs after I climbed back...
top of arrow building has dancer stones on top of it
close up of the dancer stones
Monte Alban site Jan 3
The tour group today went on a big bus to the site to Monte Alban. It is located on a hill outside of the city of Oaxaca. The tour driver told us when the Spanish first saw the hill they called it Monte Alban, which meant 'mountain covered with white flowers'. He showed us the tree that produces the white flower. I am sure in the 15th century the hillside would have been completely covered with this beautiful blooming tree. Today it was dry, dusty with the sparse trees and weeds that rattled in the breeze. The guide took us part way into the site then let us loose to look for ourselves. Even the site was dry and dusty. The flavor of the site was different as it was Zapotac with Olmec influences. Most of the pictures speak for themselves. There have been many theories about the meaning of the figures carved on the stone slabs. Some say they were dancers, hence the name, some said they were captives in various stages of being tortured. The guide today said this place might have been a medical university with the stones showing internal organs and people with medical problems. Now matter what they were, the carvings were wonderful. We had to leave too soon for me to look at everything I wanted.
I went back on the next day and spent the half-day the tour allowed and looked at the museum and some of the temples on the North and South sides. I bought a beautiful pair of silver earrings that were replicas of ones that came from the tomb collection. More later, Gay