Presentation: The Zapotec civilization of the Central Valleys, the Northern and Southern Sierras, and the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec was unusually precocious. During the first Millennium BCE, they founded one of the earliest great cities and political states centered at Monte Albán. They also recorded their use of the 260-day ritual calendar in what was Mesoamerica’s earliest writing system. In this presentation, we will consider the role of writing in Zapotec society and learn of the dignitaries and kinds of events they deemed fit to chronicle.

Presenter: Originally from Canada, Robert Markens holds a PhD in Anthropology from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA. He has been a researcher since 2011 at the Institute for Aesthetic Research—Oaxaca Unit of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His current area of ​​research is political power in pre-Hispanic Oaxaca and how the principles of power are reflected in works of art, public buildings, and urban planning. He has taught at several universities such as UNAM, the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca, the Universidad del Sureste, the University of Costa Rica, Linfield University, the University of Chicago, and New York University.