East and South of Oaxaca, Oaxaca...

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Yagul, Mitla, Dainzu, Zaachila:


Along the highway from Oaxaca, Oaxaca and El Tule to the east are the archaeological sites of Yagul, Mitla, and Dainzu. To the southwest of Oaxaca, Oaxaca is Zaachila.



Yagul is a small site and when Chuck and I visited these ruins we were the only visitors there. At the same time there were probably a dozen people onsite working to preserve and restore the existing structures. The built environment at Yagul included a ball court, a shrine and tombs, and public and residential structures.

While at Yagul Chuck and I noticed some dark objects in the corners of the structures. At first I thought they probably were nests or cocoons. Well, they were spiders (like daddy long legs) all huddled together. Not sure if this is how they sleep, if they were in hibernation, or what, but definitely never seen such a sight.



Mitla contains the remains of pre-Hispanic structures, some of which were built over by a colonial church.
When the Spaniards worked to conquer what is now Mexico they did so both physically as well as spiritually. As a means of instilling Spanish control over the indigenous people churches were built on top of indigenous structures in order to superimpose Spanish power.
The remaining pre-Hispanic structures feature elaborately detailed facades of different styles as well as ancient painted murals representative of Zapotec codices.



Dainzu is also a small archaeological site. There was a ballcourt, tomb, and two structures. One structure features carvings of anthropomorphic figures. Although Dainzu is a small site the remains are quite impressive and in considerably good condition.



Zaachila is an archaeological site featuring two tombs. Found inside of the tombs were objects and offerings of gold, turquoise, obsidian, jade and shell along with a ruler and sacrificial victims who are thought to have been servants.



BTW: from here we are going south to the coast

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Photos

Leila in a tomb
Zaachila