San José Mogote

San José Mogote is one of the oldest archaeological sites in the Valley of Oaxaca. It lies in the Etla arm of the valley, in the village of the same name within the municipality of Guadalupe Etla, about 12 km northwest of Oaxaca city. People settled here around 1500 BC, and for roughly a thousand years, through the Early and Middle Formative periods, it was the leading community of the valley, home at its height to around a thousand people, about half of everyone living in the valley at the time.

Much of what is known about the site comes from two decades of excavations led by the archaeologists Kent Flannery and Joyce Marcus in the late 20th century. They found public buildings rebuilt over and over, including a meeting house used by the men of the community, and a mound raised on a natural hill to about 15 m that was later turned into the residence of a high-ranking family. The best-known find is Monument 3, a carved stone that served as a threshold to a ceremonial building. It shows a bound, sprawled captive with glyphs that probably give a day name, "1 Earthquake", and it is often cited as the earliest known Zapotec writing. Around 500 BC the founding of Monte Albán on its mountaintop to the south drew power away, and San José Mogote became a secondary town under the new capital.

Today most of the archaeological zone is unexcavated: the low hills covered in huizache around the village are ancient platforms. A restored mound with stone stairways stands close to the houses, and from its top there are views over the Etla valley toward Oaxaca city and, on clear days, Monte Albán. Some of the finds, including Monument 3 and funerary urns, are kept in a community museum in the old Hacienda El Cacique next to the village church. The museum is run by the community and is often locked, so a visit here is an unhurried village outing rather than a ticketed archaeological park.