San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec , a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca . A forerunner to the better-known Zapotec site of Monte Albán , San José Mogote was the largest and most important settlement in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Early and Middle Formative periods (ca. 1500-500 BCE) of Mesoamerican cultural development.
174-691: Situated in the fertile bottomlands of the Etla arm of the Valley of Oaxaca, the site is surrounded by the present-day village of San José Mogote, about 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers) northwest of the city of Oaxaca (Evans 2004:122). San José Mogote is considered to be the oldest permanent agricultural village in the Oaxaca Valley and probably the first settlement in the area to use pottery . It has also "...produced Mexico's oldest known defensive palisades and ceremonial buildings (1300 B.C.), early use of adobe (850 B.C.),
348-463: A spider-woman deity standing in a mirror-bowl. Mirrors were so closely associated with shields at Teotihuacan that it is difficult to distinguish the two in Teotihuacan art. Both shields and mirrors were circular with a raised rim decorated with feathers. Teotihuacan shields frequently had central tassels that resembled the central spool found on some Teotihuacan mirrors. Mirrors worn on the back and
522-485: A "men's home", is believed to have served as a place where the men of the village could gather for civic and ceremonial purposes. The building's ceremonial importance is signified by its orientation of eight degrees west of north. La Venta , an important Olmec site, has the same orientation, which indicates an understanding of astronomy and a calendar system (Evans 2004, pp. 122–123). Exclusively at San José Mogote mirrors of polished magnetite were made and traded to
696-578: A Hispanization of the Nahuatl name used by the Aztec (it was later spelled as Oaxaca). The relatively independent village did not suit Hernán Cortes, who wanted to control power over the entire region. Cortés sent Pedro de Alvarado , who proceeded to drive out most of the village's population. The original Spanish settlers appealed to the Spanish crown to recognize the village they founded, which it did in 1526, dividing
870-471: A circular band of text on the back that includes the phrase u-nen , meaning "his mirror". Mirrors with Maya glyphs on the back have been found as far away as Costa Rica , more than 850 kilometres (530 mi) from the Maya heartland. Polygonal mirror pieces were glued to the backing with an unknown adhesive; on the whole, the iron ore polygons have not survived and have deteriorated to a rust-like residue coating
1044-573: A cluster of family dwellings, San José Mogote developed to incorporate monumental public structures indicative of a larger and complex political center; it ruled over a number of subsidiary settlements in the Valley of Oaxaca, receiving tribute and services from the region. For as-yet unclear reasons, its status diminished and it became a tributary to the new Zapotec political center and capital, Monte Albán. San Pablo Huitzo , Santa Marta Etla, Hacienda Blanca, Tomaltepec, Zaachila , Abasolo, Mitla , Tilcajete, Zegache , and Santa Ana Tlapacoyan were just
1218-503: A combination of the two, although these materials are poorly preserved in the archaeological record. Some mirrors bear traces of stucco , which was probably painted, or cinnabar , a red mineral that is often found in association with elite burials in the Maya area. A mirror with hieroglyphic text on the back was excavated from Río Azul in the far north of the Petén Basin of Guatemala . Another mirror from Petén , found at Topoxte , has
1392-496: A complete mirror was found and was recognised for what it was. Further finds followed at La Venta, including the excavation of two especially good quality mirrors from offerings in 1945. Several dozen Olmec iron ore mirrors are known but only a few of these have been recovered in secure archaeological excavations. At the Olmec site of Las Bocas in Puebla , a particularly fine mosaic mirror
1566-727: A few of the small settlements that supported San José Mogote, which was located in the most developed, north central area of the Valley of Oaxaca. Between 1500 and 1150 BCE San José Mogote grew from a few house structures to a village occupying a land area of about 2000 m (five acres ), the largest of some 25 villages in the Valley of the Oaxaca and the only community in the area with public buildings (Price and Feinman 2005:320-321). The introduction of two methods of irrigation may have been responsible for improving agricultural productivity. These included running irrigation ditches from streams and "pot irrigation", which consisted of dipping water out of
1740-413: A large collection of graphic designs both present and past. The Casa de Juárez, is a museum devoted to the life of Benito Juárez. It belonged to someone named Antonio Salanueva, but Juárez lived here from 1818 to 1828 after arriving from his hometown of Guelatao. It contains documents related to his presidency as well as furnishings designed to recreate the environment of that period. Its architecture
1914-475: A mirror covered with a net and flanked by a waterlily and a cotton plant, symbolising water and weaving respectively. The spider webs on mirrors can sometimes be realistically represented in Teotihuacan art, sometimes including a spider in the design. This also fed back into imagery of spider webs themselves, which could be represented by the depiction of a mirror. A mural at the Tetitla compound of Teotihuacan depicts
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#17328454920862088-434: A mixture of both. Crop productivity may have seen an increase at San José Mogote due to the initiation of two simple irrigation techniques: Pot irrigation and Irrigation ditches . Pot irrigation involved digging many shallow wells in order to accumulate water, and then scooping up that water to use on surrounding plants. Irrigation ditches were small-scale systems used to tap into streams in order to allow water to flow over
2262-447: A number of different ways. First, canny choices of farming plots allowed an individual or group of individuals to systematically gain an upper hand in crop production. Second, good alliance-building tactics may have been performed to stave off attacks by competing factions. And, lastly, healthy offspring would have ensured that an individual's lineage was secure for long after they were gone, allowing strong hereditary associations to control
2436-399: A number of shallow wells to pour onto the crops (Evans 2004, p. 145). Settlement at the site consists of a number of distinct households that form the basic social units at San José Mogote. A typical household unit at San José Mogote contained braziers , earth ovens and/or hearths for cooking, stone manos and metates for grinding, and blackened pottery . Food, including maize ,
2610-500: A number of those from Mitla and Monte Albán. Northwest of the Zócalo is the Alameda de León , a garden area that is essentially an annex of the main square. In 1576, viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza set aside two city blocks on which to build the city government offices, but they were never built here. One of the blocks was sold and the other became a market. Antonio de León , governor of
2784-456: A number of valuable items such as paintings, sculptures and religious vestments and a pipe organ dated 1686. The Church and ex-monastery of Del Carmen Alto belonged to the Carmelites, who established themselves here in 1696. The complex began as a hermitage built over the teocalli of Huaxyacac. The project was financed by Manuel Fernandez Fiallo. In the late 17th century, much of this space
2958-561: A place for artists and artisans to display their wares. The Guelaguetza, also known as the Fiestas de los Lunes del Cerro (Festivals of Mondays at the Hill) is the major cultural event in the city with origins in pre-Hispanic times. The "Hill" is the Cerro del Fortín, which was the scene of the annual rites to the goddess Centeótl , or goddess of the corn. The hill had a teocalli , or sacred plaza, built by
3132-554: A public park in 1881. It features a bronze chalice cast in that year. In 1981, the Garden was remodeled, adding a new layer of stone to the floor. The Cerro de Fortín next to it bears in stone letters Benito Juárez's slogan, "El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz" (Respect for others' rights is peace). The Antonia Labastida Garden is named after a woman who fought with Porfirio Díaz during the French Intervention. This park has become
3306-507: A regional leader, the people of San José Mogote must have first elected an individual powerful enough to influence and persuade people living in local villages to cooperate with them. The scale of buildings and the materials imported to erect them clearly indicate that San José Mogote's leaders were able to control people in the surrounding countryside. San José Mogote had many small dwellings dotting its 20 hectare (c. 50 acres) landscape that were used to house around 1,000 people, or roughly half
3480-468: A residence for a high-ranking family. By 500 BCE, with the emergence of Monte Albán as the area's main city, San José Mogote's 1000 years of dominance ended, and it was relegated to the status of a lesser community that fell under Monte Albán's control. Some of the artifacts from the San José Mogote archaeological site may be viewed in the town of San José Mogote's Community Museum, which is located in
3654-468: A series of earthquakes and never rebuilt. Inside the chapel is a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe with a prayer written in Spanish, English, Náhuatl as well as 12 other languages native to the state of Oaxaca, including 4 dialects of Zapotec . The Centro Cultural de Santo Domingo occupies the former monastery buildings attached to Santo Domingo church, and were restored in 1996 and considered to be one of
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#17328454920863828-414: A severe negative impact on tourism revenue. The next largest economic sectors are mining and manufacturing, which employ 20% of the work force. The city centre was included in a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO , in recognition of its treasure of historic buildings and monuments. Tourist activity peaks in three seasons: Holy Week , summer (especially during Guelaguetza) and New Year . Many of
4002-433: A single pied of iron ore. The front, with the mirror face, was concave with a highly polished lens . The bevelled edge of the mirror was convex and the rear and sides of the mirror were roughly sawn or ground down, although there are occasional exceptions. One Olmec mirror had a back that was ground smooth and highly polished. Concave mirrors are depicted in Olmec art, where they are frequently represented as pectorals worn on
4176-485: A slate backing that was often drilled with holes, indicating that they were attached to another object; either mounted on a wooden frame or worn with clothing. Hundreds of such mirrors have been recovered from archaeological sites in the Maya region. Such mirrors have been excavated from royal burials throughout the Maya area, with the greatest quantity of mirrors being recovered from Altun Ha in Belize. In Piedras Negras , on
4350-610: A strong influence in the Maya area, and Teotihuacan-mirror imagery appears particularly on Early Classic Maya art that uses the Teotihuacan style. A number of stone beads from the Balsas River Valley in Guerrero were modelled after Teotihuacan mirrors and included small inlaid pieces of iron pyrite to represent the face of the mirror. Mirrors had a great many symbolic associations at Teotihuacan; they could represent human eyes, faces, caves, passageways, spider webs, flowers, shields,
4524-498: A variety of ores, allowing for the construction of larger mirrors. Mosaic pyrite mirrors were crafted across large parts of Mesoamerica in the Classic period, particularly at Teotihuacan and throughout the Maya region. Pyrite degrades with time to leave little more than a stain on the mirror back by the time it is excavated. This has led to the frequent misidentification of pyrite mirror backs as paint palettes, painted discs or pot lids. By
4698-411: A year of protests and growing resistance to the new governor, in 2006 the summer occupation of the square attracted more teachers than usual. The government announced increases in wages and employment benefits for teachers a short time later. An internal conflict in the local teachers' union led to accusations that the bargaining had not really been in the teachers' best interest. On the night of June 14,
4872-654: Is Louis XV style with a white marble staircase and the main hall is in "Imperial" style, in which the anthropomorphic columns stand out. Other cultural places of interest include the Alvarez Bravo Photography Center, the Oaxaca Stamp Museum, the Railway Museum of Southern Mexico (in the old train station) and the Planetarium located on the Cerro del Fortín. Monte Albán is a pre-Hispanic city that
5046-484: Is Spanish Baroque and has three levels. In the first, there are two "tritóstila" columns that support the balcony which has wrought iron railings. On the second level two Solomonic columns flanking a window. The jambs of the window are decorated with circles and the lintel with inverted curves. At the top of the window is seal of the Jesuits. The third level contains a central niche with a sculpture of an archangel as well as
5220-597: Is a material not locally available in the Valley of Oaxaca. After 1150 BCE other settlements in the area remained small, but the village of San José Mogote increased in population and in the elaboration of its public structures, an indication of its role as the controlling capital over the other villages. Between 900 and 600 BCE, the population in the valley increased threefold to 2000 people living in 40 communities, with half of that number residing in San José Mogote, which grew to 50 acres (200,000 m) in size (Evans 2004, p. 145). A community building, which has been called
5394-602: Is believed to be a gradual development instead of an overnight procedure. Once San José Mogote became a chiefdom, it began to use its authority to gain control over local communities. Supported by smaller villages, like the tiny farming community of Tierras Largas , located about ten miles (16 km) to the southeast, San Jose Mogote became known as a sort of "capital", or central area of trade and command, for dozens of surrounding dwellings. In order for San José Mogote to attain this regional, economic and political dominance, in all likely events, for San José Mogote itself to become
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5568-424: Is likely that the outline of Maya mirrors was initially drawn with an instrument like a compass since many examples are almost perfectly circular. Most Maya mirrors were backed with slate and a few were backed with sandstone or ceramic , some may have been backed with shell. Most mirror backs were plain but a few bear ornately sculpted designs or hieroglyphic text . Some mirrors were framed with wood or bone, or
5742-536: Is located four blocks west of the cathedral on Avenida Independencia. It was built between 1682 and 1697 by Father Fernando Méndez on a site where supposedly an image of the Virgin Mary appeared inside a box. It is of Baroque style finished in 1690. Its front is made of a reddish stone sculpted to look like a folding screen . In the back of the church is the Museo de la Basilica de Nuestra Señora de La Soledad that exhibits
5916-519: Is located north of the Alameda de León on Avenida Independencia in a former 18th century mansion. It is dedicated to local artists such as Rodolfo Morales whose work is on permanent display. The museum has also featured exhibitions by Felipe Morales , Rodolfo Nieto , Alejandro Santiago and Francisco Toledo . The Casa de Culturas Oaxaqueñas used to the Church and ex monastery Los Siete Príncipes dating from
6090-579: Is located on the main square. This site used to be the Portal de la Alhóndiga (warehouse) and in front of the palace is the Benito Juárez Market. The original palace was inaugurated in 1728, on the wedding day of the prince and princess of Spain and Portugal. The architectural style was Gothic . The building currently on this site was begun in 1832, inaugurated in 1870 but was not completed until 1887. The inside contains murals reflecting Oaxaca's history from
6264-514: Is often spiced with cinnamon and almonds. The city contains a number of parks, gardens and plazas, many of which were former monastery lands, for example, the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca , surrounding the former monastery of Santo Domingo. Even better known is the Plaza de la Danza y Jardín Sócrates complex on Morelos Street at the foot of the Cerro del Fortín. It is part of the area bounded by
6438-475: Is one of the oldest formal tombs in Mesoamerica, dating to about 600 BC. Among the funerary offerings of this elite burial was a highly polished magnetite mirror; it also contained the figurine of a seated female who wears an obsidian mirror on her chest. A total of seven concave mirrors were excavated from Complex A at La Venta; they were fashioned from hematite, ilmenite and magnetite. These are counted as among
6612-583: Is represented on Late Classic Stela 11 from Yaxchilan on the Mexican bank of the Usumacinta River. In this representation the mirror has a central spool with attached tassel similar to Early Classic mirrors and their representations from Teotihuacan and Kaminaljuyu. Acanceh is an Early Classic Maya site in Yucatán that also displays the influence of Teotihuacan. Five stucco figures at the site wear back mirrors in
6786-480: Is surrounded by various arcades. On the south side of the plaza are the Portales de Ex-Palacio de Gobierno , which was vacated by the government in 2005 and then reopened as a museum called "Museo del Palacio 'Espacio de Diversidad'" Other arcades include the "Portal de Mercadores" on the eastern side, "Portal de Claverias" on the north side and the " Portal del Señor" on the west side. The State Government Palace
6960-401: Is talking to the lord, with its speech scroll passing directly over the mirror. These scenes appear to represent what the Maya believed was happening on the other side of the surface of their mirrors. Although mirrors are represented on ceramics, mirrors rarely appear on publicly visible art, such as Maya stelae or openly visible Maya architecture . Tikal Stela 31 includes mirror imagery in
7134-780: Is the one pilgrims used to use to enter the church area of the complex. This museum was placed in the Centro Cultural in 1964, after originally being in the Instituto de Ciencias y Artes, among other places. The museum specializes in Zapotec and Mixtec cultures, covering ten halls and one auditorium. In Sala III is displayed the "Tesoro Mixteco" (Mixtec Treasure) which is a collection of offerings that were discovered by archeologist Alfonso Caso in Tomb 7 of Monte Álban. These offerings include hundreds of pieces of jewelry made of gold and silver. They make up
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7308-426: Is the primary attraction of the state, which also relies economically on tourism . From 1984 to 2009, tourism grew to become the dominant factor in Oaxaca's economy. The attractions are the verdant landscapes of the Oaxaca Valley, and the architectural and cultural charms of the city itself. A massive 77% of the municipality of Oaxaca has employment that is related in some way to tourism. The 2006 Oaxaca protests had
7482-461: Is typical of homes built in this city in the 18th century and located on Garcia Vigil 609. It also contains ordinary artifacts from that time period, some of which belonged to Juárez. Hemeroteca Publica de Oaxaca "Nestor Sánchez" (Nestor Sanchez Public Newspaper Library of Oaxaca) is located behind the ex-convent of Santo Domingo along with the Jardin Ethobotánico (Ethnobotanic Gardin) at
7656-557: Is unique and tailored to the stone from which it is worked, and none possesses perfect symmetry; this appears to be deliberate. Although the elliptical mirrors are parabolic, the circular mirrors have a spherical concavity. The circular mirrors are effective at lighting fires while the parabolic mirrors are not, although they may have been used to produce smoke. Of four large mirrors found at Arroyo Pesquero in Veracruz, two were circular and were excellent sources of ignition. Tomb A at La Venta
7830-562: The Great Temple of Tenochtitlan as being fashioned from polished obsidian and bearing a mirror of polished gold. The deity was supposed to observe everything that happened in the world through his mirror. The obsidian mirror was a metaphor for rulership and power among the Aztecs. Aztec rulers used a double-sided obsidian mirror to oversee their subjects; by gazing into one side the ruler could see how his subjects were comporting themselves and in
8004-587: The Guatemalan Highlands . The high concentration of mirrors in a few highland sites probably indicates centres of production and distribution into the trade network . It is likely that they were manufactured in the highlands and then were traded as finished objects to the Maya lowlands. Most Maya mirrors were circular with occasional oval and square examples; they range in size from 5.6 to 29 centimetres (2.2 to 11.4 in) across while their thickness ranged from 3 to 72 millimetres (0.12 to 2.83 in). It
8178-592: The Gulf of Mexico coast. The purpose of the museum is to show the aesthetic as well as the cultural value of these works. The Religious Museum of the Ex monastery of La Soledad is located next to the Basilica of la Soledad. It contains objects such as paintings, sculptures and vestments. It is located in the southwest portion of the old monastery. The Instituto de Artes Gráficos de Oaxaca (Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca) contains
8352-503: The Spanish conquest this form of divination was still practiced among the Maya , Aztecs and Purépecha . In Mesoamerican art, mirrors are frequently associated with pools of liquid; this liquid was likely to have been water. Early mirrors were fashioned from single pieces of iron ore, polished to produce a highly reflective surface. By the Classic period, mosaic mirrors were being produced from
8526-856: The Tlatilco culture was using imported mirrors crafted from jade . During the Early and Middle Preclassic periods (approximately 1500 to 500 BC) the Olmecs fashioned mirrors from iron ore, including minerals such as hematite , ilmenite and magnetite . The Olmecs preferred to manufacture concave mirrors; this gave the mirror the properties of reflecting an inverted and reversed image. Larger concave mirrors could be used to light fires. These early mirrors were manufactured from single pieces of stone and were therefore of small size, rarely exceeding 15 centimetres (5.9 in) across. Mirrors were manufactured by using sand or some other abrasive material such as hematite powder to polish
8700-696: The Xiuhcoatl fire-serpent depicted with mosaicwork fashioned from turquoise . This form of Mesoamerican mirror was widely distributed during the Early Postclassic, with examples being reported from Chichen Itza in the northern Yucatán Peninsula and from Casas Grandes in Chihuahua . It is probable that these Toltec mirrors were identified as representations of the sun. The atlante columns at Tula have representations of mirrors sculpted on their backs with four smoking serpents, one in each quadrant. The faces of
8874-506: The fifth sun . The iconography of the Aztec sun stone closely conforms to that of Postclassic turquoise mirrors; and is based upon the design of earlier Toltec pyrite mirrors. Bowls of water were used as mirrors to examine the reflections of sick children. If the child's reflection was dark then his soul, or tonalli in Nahuatl, had escaped from his body. The association between mirrors and water
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#17328454920869048-501: The "caravanas de la muerte" – death squads of government agents patrolling the city in police trucks. The assembly also closed government buildings, barricaded access roads to the city, and replaced the city's police force with the Honorable Cuerpo de Topiles, a civilian law force based on indigenous traditions of communal policing. In October 2006 president Vicente Fox sent in more than 10,000 paramilitaries to take back control of
9222-531: The 15th to the 20th century from the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez in Oaxaca. The Museum of Contemporary Art ( Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca , MACO) is housed in the so-called Casa de Cortés. It is one of the oldest buildings in the city and one of the most representative of non-religious buildings. It dates from after the death of Hernán Cortés and could never have served as his house. Although it has been modified somewhat over
9396-534: The 18th century. The only part still used for religious purposes is the small chapel. The complex was restored in the 1960s and in 1970, the Casa opened. It houses the Instituto Oaxaqueño de la Culturas, which is a state government entity to promote culture and the arts. The Rufino Tamayo Museum (Museo Arte Prehispánico de Rufino Tamayo) or Museo Rufino Tamayo , has an important collection of pre-Hispanic art that
9570-611: The 20th. It was later renamed the Jesús Carranza Theater. The current name dates back to 1932, honoring the composer of the state anthem "Dios Nunca Muere" (God Never Dies). The theatre has three parts: the vestibule, the main hall and the stage. The main entrance is on the corner. On the Armenta and López Street sides, the lower level is occupied by shops and by the Miguel Cabrera Salon, which hosts art exhibits. The vestibule
9744-422: The Aztec underworld and communicate with the realm of the dead. The name of the important Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca means "Smoking Mirror" and he was apparently the supernatural embodiment of a polished obsidian mirror. Depictions of the god frequently replace one of his feet with a smoking mirror and position another at the back of his head. Spanish chronicler Diego Durán described the image of Tezcatlipoca in
9918-506: The Aztecs' gold came from there. The Spanish expedition under Orozco set about building a Spanish city where the Aztec military post was at the base of the Cerro de Fortín. The first mass in Oaxaca was given by Chaplain Juan Díaz on the bank of the Atoyac River under a large huaje tree, where the Church of San Juan de Dios would be constructed later. This same chaplain added saints' names to
10092-575: The Aztecs. Metal mirrors appear in the Postclassic period; a gold mirror back in the form of a spider was excavated from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban in Oaxaca. This mirror was the product of Mixtec artisans. During the Early Postclassic (c.900–1200) the Toltec inhabitants of Tula in Central Mexico favoured a back mirror in the form of a central disc crafted from iron pyrite surrounded by representations of
10266-464: The Aztecs. The ritual would end with the sacrifice of a young maiden chosen to represent the goddess. This rite was prohibited by the Spanish after the Conquest, who also destroyed the teocalli. In its place, they constructed the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmen , now known as Carmen Alto. The recently baptized Mixtecs and Zapotecs then replaced ceremonies to Centeótl with those to this manifestation of
10440-482: The Basilica de la Soledad and the Church of San José. The Plaza de la Danza was constructed in 1959 by Eduardo Vasconcelos to hold the annual Bani-Stui-Gulal (representation of antiquity) dance, held one day before the festival of the Guelaguetza. The Plaza also hosts other cultural events including art shows, concerts and political rallies. The Socrates Garden is the old atrium of the Basilica de la Soledad, converted into
10614-592: The Early Classic (c.AD 250–600) at the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico and at the Maya city of Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala . Ceramic incense burner figurines from the Escuintla region of Pacific Guatemala frequently depict the wearing of mirrors upon the chest. The use of mosaic mirrors allowed for a much larger diameter, and mirrors were crafted that were too big to be worn as part of
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#173284549208610788-461: The El Cacique Hacienda. 17°10′03″N 96°48′12″W / 17.16750°N 96.80333°W / 17.16750; -96.80333 Oaxaca City Oaxaca de Juárez ( Spanish pronunciation: [waˈxaka ðe ˈxwaɾes] ), or simply Oaxaca (Valley Zapotec : Ndua ), is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state of Oaxaca . It is the municipal seat for
10962-650: The Guatemalan Highlands had a border formed by six curved iron pyrite plates, very similar to representations of mirrors in Teotihuacan art. Pyrite mirrors from Nebaj and Zaculeu were found placed in Early Classic censers, suggesting the same association between mirrors and fire as was found at Teotihuacan. Two Early Classic style Maya mirrors were traded as far away as Costa Rica. Maya mirrors and their use are depicted on Classic Maya polychrome ceramics, where pictorial vases frequently depict scenes from courtly life. One vase depicts an anthropomorphic dog staring into
11136-613: The Guatemalan Pacific slope combines butterfly and water imagery. The mirror has flanking ears representing the wings of the butterfly that is rising from a water-filled bowl. A painted mural from Teotihuacan, now in the De Young Museum in San Francisco, has a representation of a mirror containing a glyph representing a piece of jade jewellery. Such jade pendants are depicted frequently in Teotihuacan art falling in streams. In
11310-570: The Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River , a sizeable iron pyrite mirror was set at an angle within the tomb of king K'inich Yo'nal Ahk II in such a way that the deceased king would theoretically be able to view himself laid out in his tomb. The tomb of his successor, Ruler 4 , also contained a mirror; it bore the image of an important war captive. At Bonampak in Chiapas , a mirror was interred at
11484-624: The Late Classic. Maya mirrors were produced by exceptionally skilled artisans and were highly valued by the Maya elite. Production was likely to have been so specialised that they were made by high-status artisans dedicated to their manufacture, who may have been members of the aristocracy or even royalty . Although hundreds of mirrors have been excavated in the Maya area, comparatively few mosaic mirrors have been recovered from lowland Maya sites. Large quantities of mirrors have been recovered from some highland sites, such as Kaminaljuyu and Nebaj in
11658-608: The Maya region jade beads were frequently placed alongside mirrors in burials and offerings in the Classic and Postclassic periods. Although jade may have been placed alongside mirrors due to the high value of both to their Mesoamerican owners, it is equally likely that the association of jade with mirrors is due to jade being used in divinatory practices. Like mirrors, jade beads were used for scrying and were invested with supernatural powers. Jade also had an association with water. Representations of mirrors in art from Classic period Teotihuacan and Guatemala's Pacific coastal region depict
11832-578: The Mesoamerican world at sites like Paso de la Amada and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , among many others. According to John E. Clark , "by the end of the San Jose Phase, San Jose Mogote was clearly...a chiefdom ". It is not known precisely when or how hereditary inequalities emerged at San Jose Mogote (or anywhere else in Mesoamerica, for that matter) but there are some excellent indicators that give clues as to how this transformation took place and how it
12006-460: The Olmec Gulf Coast, some 250 miles (400 km) distant. Trade with other areas is also suggested by the greater quantities of obsidian and ceremonial objects, such as drums made from turtle shells, conch-shell trumpets, and stingray spines, as well as pottery designs associated with the Olmec groups, especially at the site of San José de Mogote (Price and Feinman 2005, p. 321). By 700 BC
12180-701: The Olmecs closely identified mirrors with the sun. By the Classic period (c.AD 250–900) iron pyrite was the mineral of choice for fashioning mirrors. Instead of crafting the mirror from a single piece of pyrite, pre-cut pieces of pyrite would be fixed to a piece of slate , forming a mosaic mirror fashioned from finely fitted pieces. The slate was often finely sculpted and circular in shape; these mirrors could be much larger than earlier mirrors and mosaic mirrors represented in Mesoamerican art suggest that they may have reached sizes of over 30 centimetres (12 in). Mosaic mirrors using iron pyrite are not well preserved in
12354-438: The Postclassic period obsidian mirrors became increasingly common. Far from being a personal cosmetic accessory, mirrors in Mesoamerica were divinatory aids and also formed a part of elite status costume. Mirrors were viewed as metaphors for sacred caves and as conduits for supernatural forces; they were associated with fiery hearths and pools of water because of their bright surfaces. Mirrors were also closely associated with
12528-426: The Postclassic period, the world was metaphorically conceived as a huge circular mirror. Mirrors were associated with fire in Mesoamerica, and representations of mirrors could take the form of flowers and be combined with representations of butterflies. Both butterflies and flowers were associated with fire in central Mexico from the Classic to Postclassic periods, with butterflies representing flames. The Olmecs of
12702-717: The Preclassic period fashioned concave mirrors that were capable of lighting fires. Mirrors were also associated with water; an Early Classic mirror in the style of Teotihuacan was excavated at distant Guácimo area of the Limón province near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. It included Teotihuacan imagery that was a stylised convention for representing bodies of water. Water imagery continued to be associated with mirrors in central Mexico right up to Aztec times. These representations of water-associated mirrors in Mesoamerican art apparently use
12876-487: The Spanish, since European artefacts were also recovered. One Postclassic mirror, and possibly more, from Lamanai in Belize was set in an unusual ceramic frame. Maya books dating from the time of first contact with the Spanish suggest that mirrors were worn on the back or shoulder. The Huichol people of the western Mexican state of Nayarit have a considerable body of native lore regarding mirrors. They view mirrors as supernatural portals and link them symbolically with
13050-411: The Teotihuacan style. The Classic period Maya god K'awiil was closely associated with mirrors and often served as an interlocutor between humans and divine beings. This deity was represented with one leg in the form of a serpent and a mirror on the forehead that was penetrated by an axe or celt and emitted either flames or smoke. K'awiil was a deity who was associated with Maya divine kingship and
13224-478: The Teotihuacan warrior garb of king Yax Nuun Ayiin depicted on its sides. Here the king wears a back mirror; the left hand side of the stela displays the face of the mirror and its rim while the right hand side shows the back of the mirror with lines near the edge of the mirror's disk that probably represent cord threaded through drilled holes to bind it to the king's costume. This stela was erected in AD 445. A back mirror
13398-458: The Virgin Mary, at the same place, the Cerro del Fortín. This revised festival grew over time to be the largest and most anticipated for the town. In 1932, the city of Oaxaca realized its 400th anniversary and decided to combine these festivities with those of the Cerro del Fortín, adding traditional dances, music, regional cuisine and Margarita Santaella as the first Miss Oaxaca, in addition to
13572-510: The Virgin's dresses, offering and small painting done in her honor. The statue of the Virgin of Solitude, crowned with a 2 kg solid gold crown studded with diamonds – was recently the subject of a theft. Over the years, the cloister has been converted into a correctional facility, a teacher's college and district attorney's office. Now it serves as the Municipal Palace. The building conserves
13746-612: The Zapotec and the Mixtec were involved in one of their many wars. The Spanish conquest ended this fighting, imposing a kind of imperial peace on the area. At the same time, Spanish Catholic missionaries began evangelizing the indigenous peoples, urging them to conversion. The first Spanish expedition to Oaxaca arrived late in 1521, headed by Captain Francisco de Orozco who was accompanied by 400 Aztec warriors. Hernán Cortés sent Francisco de Orozco to Oaxaca because Moctezuma II had said that
13920-486: The archaeological record due to the instability of the mineral, which rapidly oxidises . Usually, these mirrors survive only as the slate backing with a red or yellow stain where the mirror was fitted. This has led to the frequent misidentification of mirror backs as paint palettes, painted discs or pot lids. During the Classic period circular pyrite mirrors were worn over the small of the back by Mesoamerican nobles and they have been found thus positioned in burials dating to
14094-539: The backing. In some cases ridged deposits of adhesive outline the shape of the vanished polygonal mosaic pieces. Mirrors excavated from Maya tombs have been found placed near the head, the chest, the small of the back, the groin and the feet of the deceased. A few were placed on the floor of the tomb at some distance from the human remains. In Maya art , mirrors appear to be depicted as hand-held objects; sometimes they are depicted mounted on stands or held by dwarfs or servants in front of elite Maya individuals. Advances in
14268-445: The best available minerals to produce durable highly reflective mirrors with a non-tarnishing metallic surface. All of these mirrors had drilled holes near their edges and were probably worn as chest ornaments since many Olmec figurines depict such mirrors being worn. The concave lenses of some of these iron ore mirrors are able to project camera lucida images onto a flat surface and can also be used to light fires. The grinding of
14442-483: The best restoration works in Latin America. Some important artifacts from Monte Albán are displayed here. In the center of the Centro Cultural, there is a courtyard with a fountain and a very large staircase. The passages along the courtyard have vaulted ceilings, cupolas and intricate corridors. Much of the Centro Cultural is occupied by the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca (Museum of Oaxacan Cultures), whose entrance
14616-442: The capital's main square and historic center, or zócalo . He acted to make the Zócalo a modernized tourist attraction, turning the state legislature building into a museum. In summer 2005, Oaxaca's urban middle classes joined in protests against these decisions. In May 2006, the national teachers' union staged their annual occupation of the Zócalo, a union negotiation tactic and local tradition performed every summer since 1989. After
14790-545: The chest could have served a dual protective function, deflecting physical blows as well as supernatural attacks. The mirror itself may have symbolised war in Teotihuacan; the combination of its association with fire and water may have been a precursor of the Aztec atl-tlachinolli , Nahuatl for "water-fire", the phrase that the Aztecs used for war. Among the Maya of the Classic period mirrors were fashioned from solid pieces of hematite or mosaics of iron pyrite. They tended to be larger than earlier Olmec mirrors and were mounted on
14964-416: The chest. They can be divided into two groups; those that have a single drilled hole near the top and those that have at least two drilled holes at the sides. The latter tend to be larger than the former. Most of the mirror stones have been sawn from a larger piece of rock and fashioned into an oval shape; occasionally it is possible to distinguish the original form of the parent stone. The curve of each mirror
15138-484: The church. After La Reforma around 1860, the church was converted into a stable, which caused serious deterioration of the building. It was returned to devotional use at the end of the 19th century. The living and working areas were converted into barracks and officers' quarters. In 1994, work began to convert this area as the Centro Cultural Santo Domingo. The Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad
15312-447: The city and the municipality became Oaxaca, changed from Antequera. In 1872, "de Juárez" was added to the city and municipality names to honor Benito Juárez , a native son who had begun his legal and political career here and who served as president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in 1872. The 2006 Oaxaca protests developed from state actions in 2005. Oaxaca's new state governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz banned political demonstrations in
15486-518: The city, Ndua , is still used in the Zapotec language ( Tlacolula Zapotec ). The coat of arms for the municipality bears the image of Donají , a Zapotec woman hostage killed and beheaded by the Mixtec in conflict immediately after the Conquest. The Zapotec and Mixtec peoples had settlements in the valley of Oaxaca for thousands of years, especially in connection with the important ancient centers of Monte Albán and Mitla . The modern city of Oaxaca developed relatively near them. The Aztecs entered
15660-463: The city. Oaxaca has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen climate classification Aw ), closely bordering on a humid subtropical climate ( Cwa ), due to its high altitude. During the dry season, temperatures during the day remain warm with an average high of 27.1 °C (80.8 °F) in the coolest month, December, and an average high of 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) in April, just before the beginning of
15834-493: The city. Armed confrontations resulted in many deaths, including that of Indymedia journalists Bradley Roland Will , Roberto López Hernández, and Jorge Alberto Beltrán. In late December, teachers' union leaders announced an end to their strike. Several leaders of the APPO were arrested. These grassroots groups continued to clash with local and state government, but finally all the barricades were removed and they turned over control of
16008-818: The coats of arms of the Laso de la Vega and the Pinelo families. This group is flanked by Solomonic columns. The house was acquired by the state of Oaxaca and initially housed the Museo Historico Urbano de Oaxaca in 1986. The museum was created with help from the state government, the José F. Gómez Foundation, painter Francisco Toledo and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes . Its permanent collection contains works by Rufino Tamayo , Toledo, Nieto, Aquinos and others. The Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños (Museum of Oaxacan Painters)
16182-482: The concave surface was done manually, probably using powdered iron ore as an abrasive . Similar mirrors were not only found at San Lorenzo but also at Río Pesquero and as far as Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of southwestern Mexico. The Olmecs never used iron pyrite in their concave mirrors, presumably because it degrades with time. Mirrors were among the ritual paraphernalia used by Olmec priests, shamans and rulers;
16356-497: The continuing native Zapotec and Mixtec cultures. The city, together with the nearby archeological site of Monte Albán , was designated in 1987 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . It is the site of the month-long cultural festival called the " Guelaguetza " , which features Oaxacan dance from the seven regions, music, and a beauty pageant for indigenous women. The city is also known as la Verde Antequera (the green Antequera) due to its prior Spanish name ( Nueva Antequera ) and
16530-516: The corner of Reforma and Constitución. These two occupy more than 2 hectares which used to be the gardens of the convent of Santa Domingo. Teatro Macedonio Alcalá is a working theatre and also houses a collection of romantic art. Built between 1903 and 1909, it was originally named the Luis Mier y Terán Theater. The design is typical of the Porfirio Díaz period ending the 19th century and beginning
16704-485: The costume; these mirrors were placed on temple altars and were sometimes held in the arms during rituals. Such mirrors may have measured up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) across. At the Classic period Zapotec city of Monte Albán in Oaxaca a cache was excavated that contained sixteen figures. Of these, three were holding large discs that have been identified as representations of mirrors. Mirrors are frequently represented in
16878-458: The decipherment of Maya script have revealed the central function of mirrors as instruments for ritual scrying . This ritual scrying was the continuation of an ancient divinatory tradition with its ultimate origins in Preclassic shamanistic practices that had been formalised by the Maya priesthood . Mirrors were of considerable value within Maya society and their use was restricted to the elite. The earliest stone mirrors in Mesoamerica pre-date
17052-416: The depths of a vase, behind the vase an anthropomorphic monkey dances while staring into a mirror held up in one hand. Another vase has a scene involving a group of elderly gods; one of these is applying makeup while using a mirror held up to his face by a female helper. This scene is unlikely to represent the application of cosmetics in a modern sense, since the reflection provided by an iron ore mosaic mirror
17226-455: The earlier part of this period was excavated at the Olmec enclave of Cantón Corralito . The tomb contained the remains of an elite status woman accompanied by an adult male and a child; the woman had a large flat iron ore mirror on her chest. At present, it is not known if the remains are those of local Mokoya or of Olmecs from the Gulf coast. About the same time at Tlapacoya in the Valley of Mexico,
17400-437: The earliest Zapotec glyphs known to exist. While personal bloodletting was suggested by the stingray spines and similar objects made of obsidian or jade, the figure depicted on Monument 3 shows sacrifice of a victim, probably a captive, on a societal level. In a later time period, monuments carved with similar figures, called danzantes (dancers), were present at Monte Albán. Later the public structures on Mound 1 were rebuilt as
17574-453: The earliest known Maya slate mirror back was found, considerable evidence was found of Late Classic slate working. Archaeological investigation of one of the rapidly abandoned buildings of the Late Classic royal palace at Aguateca in the Petexbatún region produced 300 pyrite and indicates the likely presence of a mirror workshop within the royal court. The structure in question was apparently
17748-469: The end of the 18th century, and has a large gilded main altarpiece. While the church overall is Baroque, the portal contains other decorative elements as well. Benito Juárez married Margarita Maza here in 1841. Ex monastery of San Catalina was built in the second half of the 16th century by Dominican friar Hernando de Carvarcos, who also was responsible for the Santo Domingo de Guzmán monastery. In 1862,
17922-583: The end of this period, mirror production at San José declined and halted altogether. The incomplete slate back of the earliest known Maya mirror was excavated from Cahal Pech in Belize; it was dated to around 600 BC, in the Middle Preclassic. The first Olmec mirrors were found during archaeological excavations in the early 1940s. A mirror and a mirror fragment were discovered in 1942 during excavations at La Venta directed by Matthew W. Stirling , however, these were not recognised as being mirrors. In 1943
18096-785: The entire block to 20 de Noviembre and Aldama streets. It offers flowers, fruit, ices, fruit drinks, handcrafts, leather goods, hats and knives, among other things. The block to the south houses the Mercado (Market) 20 de Noviembre which is the official name, but this market is commonly known as the "Mercado de la Comida (food)" because of the food stands that dominate the place. It is recommended by México Desconocido magazine for Oaxacan regional dishes such as moles , tasajo , tlayudas , pan de yema (a type of egg bread), chapulines (fried grasshoppers in chili ), Oaxaca cheese (known locally as " quesillo "), queso fresco (lit. "fresh cheese"), as well as very large cups of hot chocolate made locally that
18270-535: The eye and mirrors. This association also existed among the Maya, the Tzotzil Maya phrase nen sat is used for the pupil or eye and means literally "mirror of the face" or "mirror of the eye". This association of mirrors with eyes may derive from the highly reflective eyes of the jaguar . Mirror stones were used to represent the eyes in sculptures from many Mesoamerican cultures. From the Classic period mirrors began to be associated with spider webs, perhaps due to
18444-426: The farmer than may have been able to use to slowly gain an economic advantage over his peers. It is also thought that a member of one of these early Mesoamerican communities may have also claimed to possess spiritual and/or supernatural powers. This would enable an individual to gain a foothold up in social ranking, as that individual alone would become the only link for ordinary members of a society to communicate with
18618-448: The fate of the dynasty. The theory of reciprocity may have been utilized by one member of the community to gain control over others. For instance, if an individual farmer might have had an overly abundant crop one season, that farmer might have been able to use the excess food to hold a community feast, in which he may have been able to persuade others subconsciously, using the theory of reciprocity, to obtain from them labor or goods that
18792-512: The feet of the deceased. In all these cases it is likely that the mirror was installed in the tomb in order to open a supernatural location within it. Among the Classic Maya, mirrors were considered to be used jointly by gods and mortals, as evidenced by scenes painted on polychrome ceramic vases. Mirror production continued in Belize during the Classic period. At Pacbitun in Belize , near to where
18966-476: The fire goddess Chantico . Another scene from the Codex Borgia depicts a burning Toltec-style mirror used as a hearth for a sizeable pot. The mirror-hearth and pot are framed by four fire serpents . On another page of the same codex, the god of fire Xiuhtecuhtli is making fire from a mirror placed on the back of a fire serpent. An Aztec sculpture of a seated figure bears a smoking mirror on its back to represent
19140-471: The first evidence of Zapotec hieroglyphic writing (600 B.C.), and early examples of architectural terracing, craft specialization, and irrigation (1150-850 B.C.)." Archaeological investigations conducted during the late 20th century over two decades (e.g., by Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus ) have built an emerging picture of San José Mogote as an early center of Zapotec culture; it was later supplanted or overtaken by Monte Albán . From its beginnings as
19314-590: The first two were destroyed by large earthquakes in the 16th and 18th centuries. Construction of this third church began in 1702 and it was consecrated in 1733. Its facade is made of the green cantera stone commonly found in Oaxaca's buildings, and the interior is in Neoclassical style. The altar features a bronze statue of Our Lady of the Assumption (Nuestra Señora de al Asunción) sculpted by Tadoini and cast in Italy during
19488-710: The gifts that Hernán Cortés sent back to the royal court in Spain and they became widely collected among the European aristocracy. One such mirror was acquired by Elizabeth I 's court astrologer John Dee and is now in the collection of the British Museum . Mirrors are represented in association with fire in two codices of the Borgia Group from central Mexico during the Aztec period ( Codex Borgia and Codex Vaticanus B ). The mirrors are placed with censers that serve as hearths for
19662-495: The iconography of Teotihuacan and are found in diverse mediums such as ceramics, monumental sculpture, figurines and murals. The feathers are generally raised above the central disc and radiate from the centre. Such discs also appear as costume elements and some of the better preserved ceramic copies of these elements have a central disc crafted from reflective mica. Archaeologist Karl Taube has identified these elements as representations of mirrors in Teotihuacan art. Teotihuacan had
19836-531: The iconography of the great city of Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Mirrors in Classic period Teotihuacan, as elsewhere in Mesoamerica, where associated with a corpus of spiritual beliefs, some of which have been passed down to the modern period. Mirrors were fashioned from three different types of stone at Teotihuacan, these were mica , obsidian and iron pyrite. Circular mirrors at Teotihuacan were associated symbolically with eyes and faces, flowers and shields; they are quite frequently encountered during excavations in
20010-454: The iron ore until it produced a highly reflective surface. In the Valley of Oaxaca , only San José Mogote has produced evidence of mirror production dating as far back as the Preclassic. Mirrors produced at San José Mogote were distributed to relatively distant places such as Etlatongo and the Olmec city of San Lorenzo . The mirrors from San José Mogote that were excavated at San Lorenzo have been dated to between 1000 and 750 BC. Towards
20184-589: The land among the Spaniards of Orozco's expedition. But three months later, Cortés forced out the population of the village once again and replaced the town council with his own appointees. The original founders appealed again to Spanish royal authority, this time to the viceroy in Mexico City, Nuño de Guzmán . He also sided with the original founders; they reestablished the town in 1529, naming it Antequera, in honor of Nuño de Guzmán's hometown. Francisco de Herrera convened
20358-562: The largest mirrors were worn on the back, mirrors were also frequently worn on belts. Mirrors worn as a part of costume frequently had cloth or feather tassels attached. These costume mirrors were forerunners of the Aztec tezcacuitlapilli , which was a mirror worn on the lower part of the back. A number of mirrors were excavated from the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan. Fifteen individuals were interred with back mirrors placed at
20532-583: The mirror are replaced with human faces on all of them, corresponding to the close association between faces and mirrors across Mesoamerica. In the Late Postclassic (c. 1200–1521) obsidian came to be the stone of preference for fashioning mirrors in Central Mexico. Broken pieces of raw obsidian were likely to have been used as mirrors as far back as the Preclassic but obsidian was not commonly ground and polished to manufacture mirrors until this period. Obsidian mirrors were used ritually to spiritually access
20706-408: The mirror face the centre. In art, representations of butterflies were sometimes positioned as if they were feeding from the mirror-flower. Sometimes metaphors could be combined in imagery, so that the mirror-flower was worked in such a way as to also resemble a face. Both flowers and butterflies were associated with fire at Teotihuacan, with butterflies symbolising flames. At the same time, the face of
20880-473: The mirror face using a glyph in the form of a reptile's eye, the meaning of which is not clear. The ringed eyes of the central Mexican rain god Tlāloc may have represented mirrors from representations at Teotihuacan in the Classic period right through to the Aztecs at the time of Spanish contact. In the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España , the Nahuatl word tēzcatl is used to refer to both
21054-739: The mirror symbolised fire. One mirror in the Teotihuacan style has a representation of a goddess on the back that is flanked by pairs of burning torches; fire signs cover her body. A Teotihuacan-style mirror excavated in Costa Rica was decorated with iconography that, at Teotihuacan, symbolically represented bodies of water. The association of mirrors with water in central Mexican art persisted right up to Aztec times. In Teotihuacan art mirrors were relatively frequently shown standing upright in bowls, symbolising bowls of shining water. The composite surface of circular pyrite mosaic mirrors led to their association with spider webs. A scene depicted at Teotihuacan shows
21228-516: The mirror to symbolise the surface of a pool of water. During the Classic Period mirrors were placed in bowls to symbolically represent bowls of water; examples are known from Teotihuacan and throughout the Maya area. Water-filled bowls have been used as mirrors for divinatory purposes right up to modern times in Mesoamerica and the American southwest . An incense burner from Early Classic Escuintla on
21402-576: The monastery became a jail and at the end of the 19th century, the southern part became the Municipal Palace. Since 1976, it has been a hotel, called Hotel Camino Real. Church of the Company of Jesus (Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesús), located to the southwest of the Zócalo, was built by the Jesuits in 1579 and consecrated to Francis Xavier and the Immaculate Conception . The towers were destroyed by
21576-497: The most outstanding examples of iron ore workmanship that the Olmecs produced. Their concave fronts are as precisely ground as modern optical lenses, although their backs were left rough and uneven. The concave lenses of these mirrors were found to form parabolic reflectors . The borders of each of the La Venta mirrors formed a circle or an ellipse, and they usually had different focal lengths for each axis. The three iron ores used are
21750-455: The network of lines on the surface of mosaic mirrors that developed at that time. Imagery associating mirrors with spiders and their webs is relatively frequently encountered at Teotihuacan. The association of mirrors with spiders continued right up to the Postclassic and beyond, with a polished gold Mixtec mirror back taking the form of a spider. The modern Huichol still associate mirrors with spider webs. Mirrors have been identified with
21924-613: The new, Crown -approved town council. Juan Peláez de Berrio platted the new settlement. In the meantime, Cortés gained from the crown the title of the Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca, which contains the disputed village. This enabled him to demand high taxes in the area, and to control the territory that surrounded the village. The village had to survive while surrounded by other villages that answered to Cortés. These villages not only did not take orders from Antequera, they were hostile to it, mostly likely encouraged by Cortés. To counter this,
22098-646: The original building to house the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez . The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Museum of Contemporary Art) or MACO is located here as is the Plazuela (small plaza) Labastida and the Parroquia de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo (Parish of the Precious Blood of Christ). Oaxaca Cathedral , also referred to as Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption , is the third to be built as
22272-559: The other side his subjects could see themselves reflected back. The gods were said to reveal their wishes to a ruler through the use of a mirror. An Aztec hemispherical iron pyrite mirror in the collection of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris has a sculpted representation of the wind god Ehecatl on its convex back. Xipe Totec , "Our Lord the Flayed One", was the Aztec god of rebirth. One of his names
22446-515: The painter himself collected. He donated the collection, as well as the house that is now the museum to his home state (Oaxaca) in 1974. This house, which was known as the Casa de Villanaza, was built in the 18th century. It first housed the State Museum Archives, before becoming what it is today. The museum exhibits over 1150 pieces from different Mesoamerican periods, including Mayan steles , ceramic dogs from Colima and stone faces from
22620-452: The plants. A flat, carved stone, designated Monument 3, was placed as a doorstep to the ceremonial structure (Price and Feinman 2005, p. 321). The carving is of a naked man with "a puffy, slitted eye, lips drawn back in a grimace, overall posture of vulnerability ... rounded elements on the chest and abdomen suggesting the guts after disembowelment." Glyphs depict drops of blood and a possible calendar day-name "1 Earthquake." These are
22794-407: The population of San José Mogote continued to increase. Between 700 and 500 BC, 3500 people occupied the Valley of Oaxaca, with about 1000 living at San José Mogote, which covered approximately 60 hectares (150 acres) (Evans 2004, p. 187). Major public buildings constructed with adobe bricks and large blocks of stone were built on top of dirt mounds. The largest complex of the area prior to 500 BCE
22968-522: The population of the entire Valley of Oaxaca during the San José Phase. The construction of a special men's meeting hall was found inside the boundaries of San José Mogote and was evidently rebuilt many times over the years. Structures 1 and 2 at San José Mogote together form an impressive, multi-level public-scale building that is identified as a place where an ethnically diverse community may have been able to come together to discuss important issues of
23142-520: The pre-Hispanic era, the colonial era and post-Independence. Most of these were painted by Arturo García Bustos in the 1980s. The Federal Palace is located across from the cathedral and used to be the site of the old Archbishiop's Palace until 1902. Its architecture is "neo-Mixtec" reflecting the nationalism of the early 20th century and the reverence in which the Mixtec-Zapotec culture has been held in more recent times. The architectural elements copy
23316-401: The presidency of Porfirio Díaz . The church and former monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is located 4 blocks north of the cathedral. It was constructed between 1555 and 1666. It is divided into two parts: the church and the former living/working areas of the monks. The front of the church is Renaissance-style, in the central relief, Saint Dominic and Hippolytus of Rome are holding up
23490-481: The religious rites. The word "guelaguetza" is from Zapotec and means offering, sympathy, caring and cooperation. This first Guelaguetza was such a hit that organizers decided to repeat it every year at the Cerro del Fortin, on all the Mondays of July starting in 1953, becoming an amalgam of Oaxacan festivals from many parts of the state. Mirrors in Mesoamerican culture The use of mirrors in Mesoamerican culture
23664-458: The residence of an elite status courtier. Several Early Classic mirrors from Copán in Honduras had stuccoed backs that were painted with motifs in the style of distant Teotihuacan. A mirror back from Kaminaljuyu sculpted with an ornate volute design apparently derived from the Classic period culture of Veracruz on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico . Pyrite mirrors at Kaminaljuyu were placed upon
23838-501: The richest collection of gold and silver smithing of ancient Mexico. Another important exhibit is the objects from Tomb 5 of Lambitieco , which dates back to 700 C. E and from Monte Albán. The museum has rooms dedicated to everyday items from the colonial period as well. The center also contains the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa (Fray Francisco de Burgoa Library) which holds over 25,000 degrees that were conferred from
24012-470: The rise of the Olmec civilization, with examples being dated as far back as the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. From early in Mesoamerica's history, the use of iron ore mirrors was associated with a hereditary elite class. At Paso de la Amada , a Mokaya site in the Soconusco region of southern Chiapas, iron ore mirrors were excavated that have been dated to between 1400 and 1100 BC. A Mokaya tomb dating to
24186-483: The royal lineage and bears attributes that were later inherited by the Aztec Tezcatlipoca, or "Smoking Mirror". Four Late Classic sculptures of K'awiil were excavated from Burial 195 at Tikal, in each the deity grasps a mirror in its outheld hands. In the Postclassic period (c.AD 900–1521) mirrors continued to be worn over the back in Central Mexico; they were called tezcacuitlapilli in the Nahuatl language of
24360-412: The ruined city. Iron pyrite mosaic mirrors were fashioned by fixing pieces of pyrite together on a thin disc that was usually crafted from slate. The mirror backing slate was often perforated with two drilled holes and sometimes its reverse was intricately decorated. On the whole, the recovery of mirrors from Teotihuacan has been poorly documented so their archaeological context is unclear. At Teotihuacan
24534-483: The second time he looked into the mirror that the bird had, there he saw nearby a crowd of people gathered who came mounted on horses. And Moctezuma then called his augurs and diviners and he asked them "Don't you know what this means? That many people are coming." And before the diviners could reply, the bird disappeared, and they said nothing. Aztec mirrors were originally held in wooden frames and were decorated with perishable ornaments such as feathers. Mirrors were among
24708-574: The small of the back in Burial 190 alone. Mirrors were additionally worn upon the chest and the representation of chest mirrors upon ceramic figurines is very common. Additionally, circular mirrors were frequently worn as part of a headdress, usually occupying a central position. Teotihuacan had strong contacts with the distant Maya city of Kaminaljuyu, which covered an area now enveloped by modern Guatemala City . A large quantity of circular pyrite mirrors were excavated from Kaminaljuyu, although their purpose
24882-472: The small of the back of two individuals in Early Classic tomb B-1. The mirrors were placed with the reflective surface facing up, even though one of them had a finely sculpted back in the Veracruz style, demonstrating that it was the mirror surface itself that was the display surface even when the back was a work of art in itself. Large mirrors were also placed upon the chest of the deceased at Kaminaljuyu. A broken half of an Early Classic mirror from Zaculeu in
25056-429: The spirit world. Since spirituality played such an important role in ancient Mesoamerica, claims, whether truly valid or not, to possessing supernatural powers would be a crucial determinant of higher social ranking within a society. Some or all of these factors are believed to have directly contributed to the social stratification at San José Mogote. It is not known exactly when these events may have occurred, although it
25230-463: The state of Oaxaca, lived in front of this market and decided to turn it into a park in the 1840s, making it a small replica of the Alameda Central in Mexico City . In 1885, a statue of León was added. The Macedonio Alcalá Tourist Corridor is a street paved with green cantera . It was closed to traffic in 1985 and is now only open to pedestrian traffic. Along the street are notable places such as
25404-537: The state police attacked and tear-gassed the teachers still sleeping in the Zócalo, generating more public outrage against Governor Ruiz and the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party . Many radical groups merged with the teachers' union to form the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO). This assembly defended the rights of several neighborhoods and organizations against government repression, in particular
25578-524: The sun in Mesoamerica since the Preclassic period, when the Olmecs associated the two. The Maya maintained the same association throughout the Classic period, and the relationship between mirrors and the sun has persisted into modern times, with the Sierra Totonac of Mexico referring to the sun as Espejo Sol , "Mirror Sun". In the Postclassic period, the turquoise mirrors of the Toltecs and Aztecs represented
25752-412: The sun, a fiery hearth or the world as a whole. The association of the human eye with mirrors was so strong that stylised eyes were frequently used in Teotihuacan art as a substitute for the face of a mirror. Mirrors could also be replaced by an entire face, rather than just an eye, reflecting widespread practice in Mesoamerica. Sometimes mirrors were fashioned so the rim resembled petals of a flower, with
25926-483: The sun, moon, eyes, faces and flowers, much like at Teotihuacan during the Classic period. The Huichol use circular glass mirrors for divination; in the Huichol language they are called nealika , a word with a dual meaning of "face". In modern Huichol lore, the first nealika seeing-instrument was formed by a spider-web across a gourd bowl. In Huichol mythology, fire first appeared as a mirror. In modern Nahua tradition
26100-418: The sun. Mirrors have been found in almost every part of the Maya region, mostly in burials and ritual caches. They have been dated to all periods of Maya civilization from the Middle Preclassic (around 600 BC) right up to the Spanish conquest in the early 1520s. They reached the height of their production and use in the Maya highlands during the Early Classic, while most mirrors from the Maya lowlands date to
26274-421: The sun. Mirrors were often used in pre-Columbian Mexico to reveal a person's destiny through divination. Among the Maya of the Classic period mirrors were a means of communication with otherworld entities, as depicted in scenes painted on ceramic vessels. Otherworld mirrors were believed to be the far side of earthly mirrors, and were owned and used by deities and other supernatural beings. In central Mexico in
26448-580: The surrounding municipality of Oaxaca. It is in the Centro District in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín, extending to the banks of the Atoyac River . Heritage tourism makes up an important part of the city's economy, and it has numerous colonial-era structures as well as significant archeological sites and elements of
26622-407: The surrounding villages, in addition to keeping their Nahuatl names: Santa María Oaxaca, San Martín Mexicapan, San Juan Chapultepec, Santo Tomas Xochimilco, San Matías Jalatlaco, Santiago Tepeaca, etc. This group of Spaniards chose their first mayor, Gutierres de Badajoc, and their first town council, and began construction of the cathedral of Oaxaca in 1522. Their name for the settlement was Guajaca,
26796-519: The things of New Spain"): The seventh sign or omen is that waterbird hunters caught a brown bird the size of a crane , and they brought it to Moctezuma to show him, he was in the room they call Tlillancalmecac . It was after midday. This bird had on its forehead a round mirror in which could be seen the sky and stars, especially the Mastelejos near the Pleiades . Moctezuma was afraid when he saw this, and
26970-707: The time. Iron ores were a local product of the Valley of Oaxaca. Because San José Mogote was the central area of trade in this region, it utilized its rich resource of iron ore to manufacture polished stone mirrors, many of which have been found as far as the Olmec Gulf Coast Heartland. Two primary motifs are found on pottery vessels from the Valley of Oaxaca: the forces of earth and sky, symbolically represented by earthquakes or lightning, respectively. Small villages tended to have pottery vessels with lightning, or sky, motifs. Tierras Largas had pottery that favored earthquake, or earth, motifs. And San José Mogote had
27144-416: The tourists who come during Holy Week and for New Year come from other parts of Mexico and include native Oaxacans returning to visit from their places of work. Most international visitors come during the summer. The Plaza de la Constitución, or Zócalo, was planned out in 1529 by Juan Peláez de Berrio. During the entire colonial period this plaza was never paved, nor had sidewalks, only a marble fountain that
27318-412: The valley in 1440 and named it "Huaxyacac", a Nahuatl phrase meaning "among the huaje" ( Leucaena leucocephala ) trees. They created a strategic military position at what is now called the Cerro (large hill) del Fortín to oversee the Zapotec capital of Zaachila and secure the trade route between the Valley of Mexico , Tehuantepec , and what is now Central America . When the Spanish arrived in 1521,
27492-428: The variety of structures built from a native green stone. The name Oaxaca is derived from the Nahuatl name for the place, Huaxyacac , which was Hispanicized to Guajaca, later spelled Oaxaca. In 1872, "de Juárez" was added in honor of Benito Juárez , a native of this state who became president, serving from 1852 to 1872, and leading the country through challenges, including an invasion by France . The Zapotec name of
27666-520: The village petitioned the Crown to be elevated to the status of a city, which would give it certain rights, privileges and exceptions. It would also ensure that the settlement would remain under the direct control of the king, rather than of Cortés. This petition was granted in 1532 by Charles V of Spain . After the Independence of Mexico in 1821, the city became the seat of a municipality. The name of both
27840-472: The wet season. Although daytime temperatures are warm, nighttime temperatures are cool with an average low of 9 °C (48 °F) in January. Due to its altitude of 1,555 m (5,102 ft), the climate of Oaxaca is cooler than lowland areas at the same latitude. Precipitation is concentrated in the summer months with June being the wettest with an average precipitation of 171 mm (6.7 in). The city
28014-423: The years, it still conserves its basic layout with rooms surrounding three courtyards. The architectural style is basically Andalucian modified by Oaxaca traditions. The facade has two levels, and the doors and windows have lintels , and are protected by wrought iron railings. To the far left of the facade, there are two arched entrances that permitted entrance of carriages to the third courtyard. The main portal
28188-427: Was Mound 1 at San José Mogote, which was constructed atop a hill that was augmented to a height of 15 m (49 ft). In this relatively short period of time the region's emergent Zapotec civilization experienced a shift in social ranking – the transformation from an autonomous, egalitarian tribal community, to that of a socially stratified society – a "defining moment" in history that would be mirrored throughout
28362-495: Was Tlatlauquitzezcatl, meaning "Red Mirror" or "Mirror of Fiery Brightness". The Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II was said to have seen the overthrow of his empire in a mirror; some fishermen caught a strange bird with a mirror on its forehead. They brought the bird before their emperor, who peered into the mirror and saw warriors mounted on deer. This purported incident was described by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún in his Historia de las cosas de Nueva España ("History of
28536-526: Was also present in Aztec art; page 17 of the Codex Borgia depicts Tezcatlipoca with a water-filled mirror placed at the back of his head instead of the more customary smoking mirror. The day sign for water, Atl , is placed upon the mirror. Hematite mirror fragments were excavated from the ruins of a ceremonial hall in the Kowoj Maya city of Zacpeten , dating from a time when the Kowoj were already in contact with
28710-454: Was an ancient capital of the Zapotecs. It reached its peak between 500 BCE and 800 CE with about 35,000 inhabitants. Monte Albán is known for its architecture, its carved stones and its ceramic urns. In 1987, it was declared a World Heritage Site, along with the city of Oaxaca itself. The Benito Juárez Market is located one block south of the Zócalo on Flores Magón and Las Casas but it takes up
28884-400: Was associated with the idea that they served as portals to a realm that could be seen but not interacted with. Mirrors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica were fashioned from stone and served a number of uses, from the decorative to the divinatory . An ancient tradition among many Mesoamerican cultures was the practice of divination using the surface of a bowl of water as a mirror. At the time of
29058-432: Was difficult to determine due to the deterioration of the pyrite mirror face, it is likely they were attached to it in the same way as represented in Teotihuacan art. On some mirrors, these spools were placed near the rim; there are examples both in art and from excavation at Kaminaljuyu, of jade spools being placed in the centre of the mirror. Circular elements adorned with a feathered border detail are extremely common in
29232-426: Was exploited at San Jose Mogote. One widely accepted theory about the transformation of autonomous communities to chiefdoms is that an individual, or group of individuals must have used some degree of coercion to begin controlling others in their community. Stronger factions may have used coercion to force weaker factions to submit to their desires, and in order to do this they may have obtained their strength through
29406-402: Was not recognised by the excavators due to the complete oxidation of the reflective surface. A number of the mirror backs were decorated with scenes in a pure Teotihuacan style. In Teotihuacan art back mirrors are often represented with prominent flares similar to earspools , and a mirror found at Kaminaljuyu had two such jade earspools closely associated with it, although their original position
29580-406: Was occupied by a jail and barracks. Church and former monastery of St John of God (Templo y Exconvento de San Juan de Dios), Oaxaca's oldest church still standing, completed in 1703. This is where the first mass in Oaxaca was held in 1521. Church of San Felipe Neri The Church of San Felipe Neri is considered a classic example of Baroque with estipite (inverted truncated pyramid) columns from
29754-502: Was placed here in 1739. This was removed in 1857 to put in the bandstand and trees were planted. In 1881, the vegetation here was rearranged and in 1885, a statue of Benito Juárez was added. It was remodeled again in 1901 and a new Art Nouveau bandstand installed. Fountains of green stone with capricious figures were installed in 1967. The bandstand in the center hosts the State Musical Band, La Marimba and other groups. The plaza
29928-567: Was recovered that was dated to around 1000 BC. By the Middle Preclassic period the production of high status stone artefacts, including mirrors, was probably already being carried out by specialist artisans. An Olmec mining colony has been identified in the Cintalapa valley. Among items excavated were partially worked blocks of ilmenite and mangnetite and a fragment of mirror, together with tools and San Lorenzo style ceramics. These remains date to around 950 BC. Concave Olmec mirrors were fashioned from
30102-414: Was stored in pits that were bell-shaped and located outside the house walls. Later, trash was dumped into these pits, forming midden deposits. Burials and other activity areas were also located in areas adjacent to the house structures. Evidence of ritual includes human and animal figurines associated with burials. Basic indicators of long-distance trade include obsidian chipped stone artifacts. Obsidian
30276-411: Was unlikely to be of great use due to the distorted image it presented. Instead, the deity is likely to be ritually transforming himself into the dark face of the mirror by applying dark paint. An important vase from Chama near Nebaj, in the highlands, shows a Maya lord communicating with a rabbit spirit through a mirror, demonstrating the mirror's importance as a portal between worlds. The rabbit spirit
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