128 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 60 



advanced culture have been found and nothing of interest is encoun- 

 tered ah)ng the coastal region until we are well wdthin the \'alley of 

 the Mississipjii. Of the tribes of that valley it may be said to 

 their credit that in the magnitutle of their undertakings, as illus- 

 trated, for example, by such works as the Cahokia mound, they 

 were close rivals of the pyramid builders of the south. Had they 

 used stone instead of earth and wood they would probably be able 

 to claim a much higher place in the American culture scale than is 

 now awarded them. 



Among the more recent explorers of this area are: Maudslay, 

 Bandelier, Seler, Saville, Holmes, Tozzer, Fewkes, and Batres. 

 Earlier authorities are given in nnich detail by H. H. Bancroft in 

 his Native Races, vol. iv, and in AValter Lehmann's Methods and 

 Results of Mexican Research. 



l-t. The South Mexican Area 



The South Mexican area, aside from the Yucatan Peninsula, 

 which is properly eastern Mexico (Merida, the capital of Yucatan, 

 being much farther north than the City of Mexico), comprises the 

 States of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and parts of Vera Cruz. The pre- 

 Columbian aborigines, represented to-day by their descendants of 

 Zapotecan, Zoacjuan, and other stocks, had reached a degree of 

 advancement in most respects equal to, and in some respects superior 

 to, that of middle Mexico. The culture appears, however, to be much 

 diversified, and the antiquities present features essentially distinct 

 from those of the areas on the north and east. There were numerous 

 important centers of development, although there remains to-daj'^ 

 west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec but one well-preserved architec- 

 tural grou]>, that of Mitla, -20 miles east of the city of Oaxaca. The 

 several buildings contain few features in connnon with the build- 

 ings of neighboring regions and find no close analogies, so far as 

 determined, even in the immediately adjacent districts. Mitla can 

 boast also of a unique type of mortuary structures unsurpassed in 

 ornamental elaboration by any other American burial monuments. 



The defensive motive would seem to have exercised in many 



cases an important influence on the selection of occupied sites, and 



the visitor to central Oaxaca is astonished to behold 



Antiquities of ^|^^^ sumuiits of loftv lulls and mountain ridges 



Oaxaca • • t i • 



notched by the ruins of pyramids and other massive 

 structures, the most remarkable example of this class being Monte 

 Alban, near the city of Oaxaca. The slopes of the great ridge are 

 entirely remodeled by man and the summit, a mile in length, is 

 leveled off and covered w-ith a remarkable system of terraces, pyra- 

 mids, and sunken areas. 



