Aboriginal Coin from Monte Alban.
RELICS AT MONTE ALBAN.
Three smooth cubical stones, seven and a half feet high, four and a half feet wide, and eighteen inches thick, of granite, according to García, but of red porphyry, in the opinion of Müller, were found during the ascent of the hill, perhaps at b, or g, of the plan. Two of the stones were standing close together, while the third had fallen; all are supposed to have formed an altar or pedestal.[VII-23] At the southern brink of the plateau Müller found a crumbling stone covered with hieroglyphics. On the slope of the hill, stones covered with sculptured hieroglyphics were noticed by Dupaix, also at the western base long cubes, some plain and others sculptured. One of the latter six feet long, four feet and a half wide, and eighteen inches thick, was sketched by Castañeda, together with a circular stone three varas and a half in circumference. His plates also include a semi-spherical mirror of copper-covered lava, three and a half inches in diameter, with beautifully polished surface and a hole drilled through the back; a copper chisel, seven inches long and one inch in diameter; and finally, the cast copper implement shown in the preceding cut, one of two hundred and seventy-six of the same form, but of slightly varying dimensions, which were found in an earthen jar dug up in this vicinity. The dimensions of the one shown in the cut are about eight by ten inches. Pieces of copper of this form were used by the Nahua peoples for money, and such was doubtless the purpose of these Oajacan relics. A precisely similar article from one of the Mexican ruins lies before me as I write. Charnay states that the plateau is covered with fragments of very fine pottery, on which a brilliant red glazing is observable. He states further, that an Italian explorer, opening some of the mounds, found necklaces of agate, fragments of worked obsidian, and even golden ornaments of fine workmanship.
Respecting these ruins Charnay says: "Monte Alban, in our opinion, is one of the most precious remains, and very surely the most ancient, of the American civilizations. Nowhere else have we found these strange profiles so strikingly original." He pronounces the arch similar to that employed in Yucatan, but this opinion does not agree with his description on another page, where he represents the ceilings of the galleries as formed of large inclined blocks of stone. Viollet-le-Duc gives a cut indicating the latter form of arch; and I think there can be no doubt that Dupaix and Castañeda are wrong in representing semicircular arches. M. Viollet-le-Duc deems the sculpture different in type from that at Palenque but very similar to the Egyptian. He regards the works as fortifications and speaks of the galleries as penetrating the ramparts. Müller and García also deem the remains those of fortifications, while Ortega seeks to form them into a stately capital full of royal palaces, temples, and fine edifices. García tells us that these works were erected by a Zapotec king, with a view to resist the advance of the Miztecs; while Brasseur believes that here was the fortress of Huaxyacac built by the Aztecs about the year 1486, and garrisoned to keep the country in subjection.[VII-24]
It seems to me that the preceding description, imperfect as it is, is yet more than sufficient to prove that the structures on Monte Alban were never erected by any people as temporary works of defense. The choice of location shows, however, that facility of defense was one of the objects sought by the builders, and renders it very improbable that a city proper ever stood here, where, at least in modern times, there are no springs of water. On the other hand, the conical mounds as represented by Castañeda's drawings seem in no way fitted for defensive works, and were almost certainly erected as tombs of Zapotec nobles or priests. The plateau was probably in aboriginal times a strongly fortified holy place, sacred to the rites of the native worship, but serving perhaps as a place of refuge to the dwellers in the surrounding country when threatened by an advancing foe. It is moreover very likely that in the period of civil strifes and foreign invasions which preceded the Spanish Conquest, these works were strengthened and occupied by the Zapotecs, and possibly by the Aztecs also in their turn, as a fortress.
RELICS AT ZACHILA.
Zachila, ten or twelve miles, according to the maps, southward from Oajaca, was the site of a great Zapotec capital. A writer in a Mexican magazine mentions the base of an ancient pyramid as still visible near the church of the modern town. With the exception of this brief mention all our information respecting the antiquities of Zachila comes from the work of Dupaix; and this writer, so far as permanent monuments are concerned, only speaks generally of an immense group of mounds in conical form, built of earth and a few stones, and of the imprint of a gigantic foot probably marking the meridian somewhat south of the mounds. From excavations in these tumuli, stone and clay statues, or idols, were obtained, together with pottery, burnt bricks, pieces of human bones, and fragments of ruined walls. Of the objects taken from the tumuli or found in the vicinity, over twenty were described and sketched by Dupaix and Castañeda.