11.2 San Jose Mogote
San Jose Mogote
We still wanted to visit San Jose Mogote. Back in Oaxaca we went to the Tourist Center and asked them where it was. The guide there gave is clear and explicit instructions. Turn left just after the water parks. We drove there quickly.
It?s pretty close to the city, and is historically important because it was a large population center in 1500 B.C., before Monte Alban was built, around 500 B.C. You can see Monte Alban from the site.
We started at the museum. These little museums are generally owned and maintained by the community, not the state of federal government. They vary widely in quality, but overall are nice little displays of one to three rooms, always with the local artifacts and, often, other local highlights as well. A woman as just locking up after another American had looked, and since she had business she promised to send someone else to open for us. While waiting we talked to the other tourist, Damian from Austin, who was just bumming around the country. I offered him a ride back to the city when we were done, which he accepted.
This one had some very nice artifacts from the earliest period. This shell necklace was interesting. Here are some early figurines from the pre-urban era.
The site was occupied during the Monte Alban era, too. Here are five text that were found, buried together. The one in front is of Cosijo, the primary deity who was rain and fertility. Here is another one. These kinds of images are found all through Oaxaca for this period. The most famous piece there is a brazier called the diablo enchilado, or ?red devil.? We are not allowed to take photos of it, so here is a photo of a poster of it.
Other parts of the museum were about the town itself. The museum is in the former hacienda of the local casique (leader) and there were photos of the family, documents including some annual cost sheets for food and clothing for the family, a little model of the hacienda, etc. There was also a section about the revolution and how the town became what it is.
With Damian in tow, we went to view the site. The new town is built right on top of the old one, and so we cut through peoples? yards and the school yard to get there. It is not extensively dug or reconstructed. We have already visited almost all of those in the state, and so we are down to ?class two? sites like this one. But here is a picture of the mainpyramidfront, and here is one of the interesting stairways that go up one side. You can almost see Damien and I in it, for size comparison. The excavated side of the pyramid is surrounded by something like a ditch or (if it was filled with water) a moat, and in one part are several round stones. At Monte Alban the signs said that these may be an indication of influences from Teotihuacan. There are no signs at San Jose Mogote, so we are let to speculate that the archeologists think the same here.
The ball court is not fully excavated. Some men were hard at work digging out the outside when we were there. Nonetheless, its distinctive I-shape is visible.
At the end of our tour we drove home, stopping at a roadside sand for a hearty lunch of pollo asado. Damien told us about his time in Zimbabwe while in the Peace Corps, and we mutually expressed dismay over the gross living standards of the U.S., and our anticipated difficulties when we move back.