Exploring ancient Mexico

Sunset, Nov, 1985

One surprise of traveling on the Yucatan Peninsula is seeing living faces that resemble the stone faces on temples (the Maya remain a broad-headed--branchycephalic--people). Their culture flowered from about A.D. 300 until the 800s. Mayadom stretched across Yucatan and south into Honduras.

The first fully literate native Americans, the Maya developed hieroglyphic writing that is still being deciphered, and the Yucatec Mayan-dialect is still spoken. Thir scholars pursued astronomy and mathetmatics, developing a sophisticated calendar and numbering system.

But the Maya are best known for their monumental architecture; two hallmarks are the roof comb and the corbeled arch (see drawings on page 101).

Religion dominated all facets of Mayan life, from solving maize to waging war. At the top of the social pyramid was an elite of nobles. At its base was a common man--in part-time warrior, temple, builder, and farmer.

In the ninth century, the culture began to disintegrate. Possible reasons include revolt, disease, and crop failure, but they're only theories. New finds in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico, as well as radiocarbon dating, are providing some answers.

Oaxaca, homeland of the cloud People:

the Zapotecs and Mixtecs

Outings to Monte Alban and Mitla are easily combined on a journey to Oaxaca in Mexico's southern highlands--an hour's flight from Mexico City. Visits to museums and craft shopping can round out a three-day stay; you may want to linger.

Monte Alban seems to float at cloud level on a mountaintop high above the Valley of Oaxaca. This was the ceremonial center for the Zapotec culture. Here you'll find mystifying bas-relief carvings of danzantes everywhere. These nude figures, often in poses that recall dancing or swimming, adorn wall, freestanding stone slabs, even steps.

Bring a flashlight for a look into the underground tombs, first used to inter the Zapotec elite, then reused by the Mixtec culture in the Postclassic Period.

Mitla is an ancient necropolic surrounded by a lively town. The cruciform tombs and palaces are adorned inside and out with stone fretwork in an eye-popping array of geometric designs. Nearby, local Indian women beguile you to buy their yarn dolls and hand-knit garments. Both Zapotec- and Mixtec-speaking peoples continue to enrich the social tapestry of the region.

Farther afield in Mesoamerica

Olmec, the mother culture. Around 1200 B.C. in the humid lowlands along the gulf Coast, the Olmec culture began to emerge. It was not until the 1940s, however, that archeologists began to acknowledged that the Olmec--not the Maya--was the parent civilization of Mexico.

Olmec earth-mound pyramids were the prototypes for ceremonial centers throughout Mesoamerica. And Olmecs, having mastered the art of stone sculpture, carved and then buried colossal heads that continue to puzzle: some appear to have Negroid features, others seem Oriental.

The most famous Olmec site, La Venta, flourished from about 900 to 400 B.C. Today, its eroding mounds are hemmed by homes of oil-field workers, and access is limited; all sculptures have been removed for display elsewhere.