Monte Alban Zapotec Panorama
by Mark Tisdale
Title
Monte Alban Zapotec Panorama
Artist
Mark Tisdale
Medium
Photograph - Panorama Photo
Description
My visit to the ancient ruins of the Cloud People at Monte Alban in Oaxaca was genuinely inspiring. The moment I saw the views, I understood on some level why the indigenous people of this region considered this a special place. I understood the desire to build their temples and important buildings up here, above the valley where the Zapotec once lived and where modern citizens of Oaxaca now reside.
This panorama was taken from a sort of raised dais. We were told this platform which had large plazas on both sides of it was likely where the rulers would once have stood and addressed assembled crowds. Can you imagine that huge plaza packed with the Zapotec?
There's much educated conjecture surrounding the long lost Cloud people. Imagine trying to understand a culture entirely from remains thousands of years later without written history. We have an idea of their culture but it's hard to have concrete thoughts about the people who once considered this spot a center of their culture, but as I gazed out on that beautiful place, I don't think we are so different today that they wouldn't have that same feeling of awe. Considering how often nature figured into the spiritual lives of the people back then, perhaps even more so.
Note: The archaeological site of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, Mexico, is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.
Uploaded
May 15th, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 423 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/19/2024 at 4:43 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet