Periods, Cultures, Styles  > Zapotec civilization

Zapotec civilization

The Zapotec civilization flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca. There is no simple Zapotec art style, rather an orderly uninterrupted sequence of styles. After 600 B.C.E. culture was centered around the hilltop city of Monte Alban. The Zapotec and Mixtec peoples are still the most numerous of the Indigenous peoples in Oaxaca: the Zapotecs dominate the eastern portion of the state, the Mixtecs the western. Linguistic research, however, suggests that Zapotec inhabitants of the region could date back to c. 4500 BCE.