142 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



buildings intact, but shows a vast assemblage of 

 enormous pyramids and platforms. Mitla has only one 

 small pyramid, but boasts a series of finely preserved 

 temples on low platform bases. In Monte Alban we 

 find monolithic monuments comparable to the stelae 

 of the Mayas, and carrying hieroglyphic inscriptions: 

 also pottery figurines and jade amulets in a style which 

 follows rather closely the models developed in the 

 early cities of the humid lowlands. At Mitla there are 

 none of these things: instead, the architectural dec- 

 oration shows a most interesting use of textile designs 

 treated in a mosaic of cut stones. It is apparent then 

 that a long record of high culture is to be found in the 

 Zapotecan field. 



At Monte Alban there are one or two narrow vaulted 

 chambers in mounds, but on the tops of the mounds the 

 few excavations have disclosed only simple cell-like 

 rooms which probably had flat roofs. Some hints of 

 ancient architectural decoration can be picked up here 

 and there. Figures similar to those modeled in bold 

 relief on the fronts of the cylindrical funeral urns (see 

 frontispiece) seem to have been used over doorways, 

 somewhat after the fashion of the Mayan mask panels. 



OOO ooo 



Fig. 51. Bar and Dot Numerals combined with Hieroglyphs on 

 Zapotecan Monuments. 



The hieroglyphs that are found on the stelae of Monte 

 Alban and on stone slabs from other sites, resemble the 

 Mayan hieroglyphs in the use of bar and dot numerals, 

 but the day and month signs have never been identified 



