August is here, and my custom-made calendar with photos that I have taken of archaeological sites in Mexico features the Palace of the Columns at the ruins of Mitla in the state of Oaxaca.
Mitla may have been inhabited as early as 900 B.C., and reached its height around A.D. 750 when it was the religious center of the Zapotec tribe. The name of the city comes from "Mictlán", the pre-Hispanic underworld. The site was viewed as a gateway between the world of the living and of the dead. Around 1000 the Mixtec tribe moved into the region and occupied the city up until the Spanish arrived in the 1520s.
The Palace of the Columns is one of the most important remaining buildings at the site. It gets its name from the large columns inside the entrance which held up the roof. Like other structures in Mitla, it is noteworthy for the intricate stonework mosaics of geometric designs. These mosaics were created from thousands of cut stones fitted together without mortar, and they are unique in the architecture of the pre-Hispanic world.
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