File:Monte Alban, Main Plaza, Building J, and the North Platform (20498776500).jpg
Original file (5,184 × 3,456 pixels, file size: 6.55 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Summary
[edit]DescriptionMonte Alban, Main Plaza, Building J, and the North Platform (20498776500).jpg |
Monte Alban, Main Plaza, Building J (aka Observatory), and the North Platform, from the South Platform Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca. The present-day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately 9 km east of Monte Albán. The partially excavated civic-ceremonial center of the Monte Alban site is situated atop an artificially-leveled ridge, which with an elevation of about 1,940 m above mean sea level rises some 400 m from the valley floor, in an easily defensible location. In addition to the aforementioned monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces, and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks. The archaeological ruins on the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills to the north are traditionally considered to be an integral part of the ancient city as well. Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic center for close to a thousand years. Founded toward the end of the Middle Formative period at around 500 BC, by the Terminal Formative (ca.100 BC-AD 200) Monte Alban had become the capital of a large-scale expansionist polity that dominated much of the Oaxacan highlands and interacted with other Mesoamerican regional states such as Teotihuacan to the north. The city had lost its political pre-eminence by the end of the Late Classic (ca. AD 500-750) and soon thereafter was largely abandoned. Small-scale reoccupation, opportunistic reutilization of earlier structures and tombs, and ritual visitations marked the archaeological history of the site into the Colonial period. The monumental center of Monte Albán is the Main Plaza, which measures approximately 300 meters by 200 meters. The site's main civic-ceremonial and elite-residential structures are located around it or in its immediate vicinity. To the north and south the Main Plaza is delimited by large platforms accessible from the plaza via monumental staircases. On its eastern and western sides the plaza is similarly bounded by a number of smaller platform mounds on which stood temples and elite residences, as well as one of two ballcourts known to have existed at the site. A north-south spine of mounds occupies the center of the plaza and similarly served as platforms for ceremonial structures. Building J in the center of the Main Plaza is characterized by an unusual arrow-like shape and an orientation that differs from most other structures at the site. Inserted within the building walls are over 40 large carved slabs dating to Monte Albán II and depicting place-names, occasionally accompanied by additional writing and in many cases characterized by upside-down heads. Alfonso Caso was the first to identify these stones as "conquest slabs", likely listing places the Monte Albán elites claimed to have conquered and/or controlled. Some of the places listed on Building J slabs have been tentatively identified, and in one case (the Cañada de Cuicatlán region in northern Oaxaca) Zapotec conquest has been confirmed through archaeological survey and excavations. (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Alb%C3%A1n) |
Date | |
Source | Monte Alban, Main Plaza, Building J, and the North Platform |
Author | Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium |
Camera location | 17° 02′ 32.18″ N, 96° 46′ 04.9″ W | View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap | 17.042272; -96.768029 |
---|
Licensing
[edit]- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Arian Zwegers at https://flickr.com/photos/67769030@N07/20498776500. It was reviewed on 25 August 2017 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
25 August 2017
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 10:35, 25 August 2017 | 5,184 × 3,456 (6.55 MB) | Спасимир (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
The following page uses this file:
Metadata
This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.
Camera manufacturer | Canon |
---|---|
Camera model | Canon EOS 550D |
Exposure time | 1/250 sec (0.004) |
F-number | f/9 |
ISO speed rating | 100 |
Date and time of data generation | 09:07, 19 April 2015 |
Lens focal length | 21 mm |
Orientation | Normal |
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
File change date and time | 09:07, 19 April 2015 |
Y and C positioning | Co-sited |
Exposure Program | Not defined |
Exif version | 2.21 |
Date and time of digitizing | 09:07, 19 April 2015 |
Meaning of each component |
|
APEX shutter speed | 8 |
APEX aperture | 6.375 |
APEX exposure bias | 0 |
Metering mode | Pattern |
Flash | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash suppression |
DateTime subseconds | 00 |
DateTimeOriginal subseconds | 00 |
DateTimeDigitized subseconds | 00 |
Supported Flashpix version | 1 |
Color space | sRGB |
Focal plane X resolution | 5,728.1767955801 |
Focal plane Y resolution | 5,808.4033613445 |
Focal plane resolution unit | inches |
Custom image processing | Normal process |
Exposure mode | Auto exposure |
White balance | Auto white balance |
Scene capture type | Standard |