the dazante figures from monte alban were thought to depict tortured, sacrificed war prisoners in the 19th century.
what do the dazante figures from monte alban thought to depict in the 19th century?
tortured, sacrificed war prisoners
one characteristic of monte albán is the large number of carved stone monuments one encounters throughout the plaza. the earliest examples are the so-called "danzantes" (literally, dancers), found mostly in the vicinity of building l and which represent naked men in contorted and twisted poses, some of them genitally mutilated. the figures are said to represent sacrificial victims, which explains the morbid characteristics of the figures. the danzantes feature physical traits characteristic of olmec culture. the 19th century notion that they depict dancers is now largely discredited, and these monuments, dating to the earliest period of occupation at the site (monte albán i), are now seen to clearly represent tortured, sacrificed war prisoners, some identified by name, and may depict leaders of competing centers and villages captured by monte albán.(blanton et al. 1996) over 300 “danzantes” stones have been recorded to date, and some of the better preserved ones can be viewed at the site's museum. there is some indication that the zapotecs had writing and calendrical notation.
monte albán
although several theories of the origin of the zapotec peoples exist, including some possibly influenced in the post-conquest period, scholars largely agree the zapotecs inhabited the central valley of oaxaca as early as 500–300 bce, during what is considered the monte alban i period. it was during this period that the zapotecs established a significant system of governance over the population of the region. the monte alban periods, of which five have been categorized, lasted from 500 bce to the time of conquest in 1521 ad. yet archaeological evidence from the site of monte alban, "the first city in ancient mesoamerica" has revealed settlement of the region as far back as 1150 bce. through these discoveries, scholars have been able to correlate with the formative, classic, and post-classic periods of civilization in the region within the greater mesoamerican history. the formative stage, from about 500 bce to 200 ad of which the periods of monte alban i and ii are attributed to, is characterized by a shift to sedentary settlements and the practice of agriculture for subsistence. from 200–900 ad in the monte alban iii period, the classic stage witnessed the rise of social and political structures in the zapotec civilization. this period also saw a surge in religious activity within the state leadership of the society. later, during the “militaristic stage” of monte alban iv–v from around 900–1521 ad, a rise in military influence common among mesoamerican societies led states to become mired in warfare and "cults of war".
zapotec peoples