W.M. Ferguson and R.EW. Adams (Eds.

) Mitla in MesoAmerjcds Ancient Cities: Aerial views ofpre-Coju,,th ian ruins in Mexico, Belize, and Honduro U of New Press:2001 7377 Mexico

The ruins ofancient Mitla are now surrounded by the modern village ofMitla in the valley southeast of the ciEy of Oaxaca. In the middle foreground is the excavated Group of the Columns.

MITLA

The modem town of Mitla has largely engulfed the ruins of ancient Mitla. The site was originally occupied by the Zapotecs, but the principal restored portions of the ruins were built by the later Mixtecs: a Mixtec pal ace (in the midst of which a colonial Catholic church was later built) and the Group of the Columns. Mitla became the capital of the Valley of Oaxaca in Monte AIbn IV times. The mosaic stonework of the ancient buildings of Mitla is incredible, Seeppedfret patterns, criginaily

brightly painted, decorated the interior waIls of sump tuous Mixtec palaces built during Monte Albn V. The name Mitla seems to have derived from the Nahuati word mictlanplace of the dead It proba bly originated in the reports of Father Burgoa, who found beneath the buildings at Mitla a huge catacomb where kings and nobles had been buried. He visited Mitla in the 1600s and wrote a detailed report describ ing the city as the residence of high priests, more power ful than the local kings, and as a center for human sacrifice,

VALLEYOFOAXACA

73

Group of the Columns

Hall of the

View from the east of Mitla, a Postclassic Zapotec and Mixtec city in the middle foreground next t the church are the Church group ruins. Be yond the Colonial church ar two quad rangles makrng up the Group of the Columns. Mitia was the burial place of the Zapotec kings and nobles,
-

Colonial church

/ h

Above The exterior of the Palace in Group of the Columns at Mitla shows the Mixtec steppedfret designs, probably the finest in all of Mesoamerica, Below Fntran e t t ,e Ha 1 f the C lumns Mitle

VALLEYOFOAXACA

75

1
Four detailed examples of the stepped-fret design from the Mitia PaLace of Columns. These mosaics were laid first and then painted.

VALLEY OF OAXACA