Archaeologists Search for Roots of Violence

’m glad to see Natíonal Geographic news report on the Zapotec civilization whose roots are in the lovely Oaxaca Valley, Mexico. In the news story archaeologists offer ideas about what led to the declíne of one of Mesoamerica’s earliest states. Some of their ideas echo what’s going on around us today—environmental instability, the collapse of the economic system, and loss of faith in state leaders. These problems caused people to drift away from a political organization they’d líved under for almost a thousand years.

There is another aspect of Zapotec culture that echoes current events—violence. This is a subject that is now receiving a lot of attention among archaeologists.

Early Zapotec rulers had no qualms about using extreme violence to subdue local rivals and near neighbors. Monte Albán, the Zapotec capital, was founded about 500 B.C. One of its earliest civic structures is covered in hundreds of slabs showing nude, mutilated people—often men who have had their genitals removed—suggesting political leaders inflicted gruesome punishments on anyone who stood in their way. In a nearby valley conquered by the Zapotec, archaeologists Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond found a the remnants of a wooden rack dating to about 10 B.C. that held at least 61 human skulls. This terrifying feature was set up in the town square. Today we’d call it an example of mass murder.

Read the full story at: http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/ ... lence.html