Mitla

I wrote down the dates 1500 bc to 900 ad for the time when Mitla thrived as a Zapotec center. It remains a Zapotec center but several of its original buildings were destroyed to build the cathedral. All the geometric stonework is from that 1500 bc to 900 ad period and some original paint was still visible, though parts were restored in the early 1900s.

It’s really hard to capture how awesome these archeological treasures are. The local population has asked that no digs disturb the sacred underground sites, but satellite technology that can penetrate ground has been used to learn a little more about it.

Though no one currently knows the meaning of each pattern, archeologists speculate about some. Pavel didn’t explain these but did talk about some we saw a bit later.

Pavel spoke very quickly and my notes are pretty skimpy, but one archeologist thinks forked tongue square snake may be a water snake symbolizing water.

One pattern may symbolize cardinal points.

The center bottom (hopefully you can click on photo to zoom in if interested) symbolized mountains and wind.

Pavel mentioned their calendar had 30 months with 20 days each.