Very close to Oaxaca is the wonderful site that the archaeologists have named Monte Alban. I stayed fairly close to the ruins and actually made it up the hill to the gates before they opened. I enjoyed touring about the very interesting site, without the huge onslaught of tourists which began arriving a couple of hours later.
It is incredible to be able to view artwork and depictions of Mayan life which is hundreds and hundreds of years old.
The site is situated at the peak of a very large set of hills, near the present day city of Oaxaca. The builders of Mount Alban actually flattened to hills to create a huge plateau, where the series of pyramids are situated.
It seems that every site that I visited in Mexico and Guatemala had some form of a ball court.
The central plaza is huge. Archaeologists estimate the population to be in the thousands, when the site was booming..
I am forever fascinated by the glyphs that have remained. The stories that they tell are fascinating, I am sure.
This stele is actually a sun dial, positioned to identify the solstice..the skills in Astronomy and Mathematics are amazing.
