A groundbreaking discovery by a McGill University researcher has revealed the true nature of Guiengola, a previously misunderstood Zapotec site in southern Oaxaca, Mexico. Long thought to be merely a military fortress, this 15th-century site has proven to be a vast, fortified city with a highly organized structure. Spanning 360 hectares, the city contained over 1,100 buildings, four kilometers of defensive walls, a network of internal roads, and a city layout that included temples, communal spaces, and residential areas. The findings have significantly expanded our understanding of Zapotec civilization just before the Spanish arrived.
A Fortress Revealed as a City
The city of Guiengola had been believed to serve as a military outpost, but the new research shows it was far more complex and sophisticated. Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis, a Banting postdoctoral researcher at McGill’s Department of Anthropology, led the research. In his article published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica, he outlines how the site, despite being perceived as a fortress, was a bustling urban center with a clear distinction between elite and commoner neighborhoods. According to Ramón Celis, the discovery paints a vivid picture of the social structure and daily life of the Zapotec people, offering fresh insights into their level of political and social organization.
The site’s well-preserved remains suggest that it was abandoned just before the Spanish conquest. Its inhabitants relocated to Tehuantepec, a city located only 20 kilometers away, where their descendants still reside today. This exodus, just before the Spanish arrived, offers a glimpse into the changing dynamics in Mesoamerica during the arrival of European powers. As Ramón Celis notes, understanding how Guiengola was organized will also shed light on the Zapotecs’ ability to negotiate with the Spanish colonizers.
Revolutionary Technology and Discovery
One of the key tools that made this discovery possible is lidar (light detection and ranging). This technology employs pulsing laser beams to scan the earth’s surface, providing precise, detailed, three-dimensional data. Lidar is especially effective in dense forest environments, where traditional methods of exploration would be nearly impossible due to the thick canopy. Prior to the use of this technology, researchers had no way to fully map the site without spending countless hours combing through the jungle on foot.
Ramón Celis and his team used lidar to scan the area in just a couple of hours, uncovering the hidden city beneath the trees. He explained that, despite the region’s difficult terrain, lidar offered a solution that previously would have been unthinkable. “Although you could reach the site using a footpath, it was covered by a dense canopy of trees. Until recently, there was no way to discover the full extent of the site without physically searching for years,” he said. “We were able to do it within two hours by using remote sensing equipment and scanning from a plane.”
The lidar scans, analyzed with the help of McGill’s Geo Analytic laboratory, allowed researchers to map the remaining structures and discern their potential functions. This detailed analysis has also provided clues about the distribution of power and social roles in the city, based on the size and location of different areas.
Urban Layout and Social Organization
The structure of Guiengola provides fascinating insights into the organization of Zapotec society. The city was clearly divided into areas that served different purposes. Elite zones, such as temples and ballcourts, were distinct from the residential neighborhoods where commoners lived. These ballcourts were significant in Mesoamerican culture, serving both as arenas for the ritual ballgame and as symbolic spaces connecting the physical world to the underworld. The ballgame was deeply connected to themes of fertility and the ancestors, with the court symbolizing the underworld where seeds and life originate.
Ramón Celis’ research suggests that the amount of space devoted to the elite areas, compared to the residential areas, offers a snapshot of how power was distributed within the city. Temples were likely focal points for religious and political activity, while the ballcourts served as a symbolic means of connecting the city’s inhabitants to the divine and the ancestors.
Despite being over 500 years old, the city remains remarkably well preserved. This is largely due to the dense jungle that has shielded the site from modern development. According to Ramón Celis, the preservation is so intact that visitors can still walk through the ruins and see standing houses, doorways, hallways, and fences that divide residential lots. The city almost feels “frozen in time,” offering a rare glimpse into a Mesoamerican society just before the cultural upheaval brought by the Spanish conquest.
The Significance of Guiengola’s Preservation
The remarkable state of preservation at Guiengola is invaluable for researchers and historians. The site provides an opportunity to study a pre-conquest Mesoamerican city that has not been altered by colonial forces. This preservation is incredibly rare, as most ancient cities were either destroyed or heavily modified by the Spanish, whose arrival marked a profound transformation in the culture and landscape of the Americas.
Ramón Celis points out that walking through Guiengola today is like stepping into a time capsule. The city’s residential structures and social spaces offer clues to daily life that are difficult to discern at many other sites that have suffered from the ravages of time or modern development. For example, the layout of houses and the divisions between elite and commoner areas reveal how the Zapotec people may have lived and interacted with one another.
The Importance of Studying Zapotec Cities
The discovery at Guiengola has important implications for the study of Zapotec civilization. The Zapotecs were one of the most powerful and influential cultures in ancient Mesoamerica, and their cities, such as Monte Albán, served as political, economic, and religious centers. However, much of what is known about Zapotec society has been pieced together from the ruins of these major centers. The full extent of smaller cities, like Guiengola, has remained largely unknown until now.
Understanding how Guiengola was organized and how it functioned in the years before the arrival of the Spanish will help researchers gain a clearer understanding of the Zapotecs’ level of political and social organization. It will also provide a deeper understanding of how the Zapotecs may have interacted with the Spanish in the early years of colonization. By studying these urban centers, researchers can piece together how indigenous societies navigated the challenges posed by European colonization and what role agency and autonomy played in these interactions.
The Personal Connection
For Ramón Celis, this research holds personal significance. His family hails from the Tehuantepec region, located just 20 kilometers from Guiengola. Growing up, he often heard stories about the ancient site, which inspired him to pursue a career in archaeology. “My mother’s family is from the region of Tehuantepec, and I remember them talking about it when I was a child. It was one of the reasons I chose to go into archaeology,” he shared.
His connection to the region adds an extra layer of meaning to his work, as he uncovers the rich history of his ancestors and contributes to the broader understanding of the Zapotec culture.
Conclusion
The rediscovery of Guiengola as a fortified city rather than just a military outpost represents a major shift in our understanding of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Thanks to the application of modern technology like lidar, Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis and his team have revealed the true scale and complexity of this ancient urban center. As future research continues, Guiengola promises to offer even more insights into the Zapotec civilization, providing an invaluable glimpse into their social organization, political structure, and daily life before the transformative forces of Spanish colonization reshaped the region forever. This discovery is not only a testament to the power of cutting-edge technology in archaeology but also a tribute to the enduring legacy of the Zapotec people.
Reference: Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis, Airborne lidar at Guiengola, Oaxaca: Mapping a Late Postclassic Zapotec city, Ancient Mesoamerica (2024). DOI: 10.1017/S0956536124000166