Tomb discovery in Oaxaca, key to understanding Zapotec culture

Yesterday the discovery of an exceptionally preserved pre-Hispanic Zapotec tomb was announced, which dates back to 600 AD and was intended to protect and venerate a high-ranking ancestor.

It is the most relevant archaeological discovery of the decade due to the great information it provides, as well as its monumental architecture, murals, original pigments and epigraphic elements.

The ancient tomb, which was built in the 7th century on the top of Cerro de la Cantera, in San Pablo Huitzo, in the Etla Valley, Oaxaca, is part of the archaeological complex known as Cerro de la Campana. Sealed for almost 1,400 years, the crypt remained intact until an anonymous complaint of possible looting allowed its identification and subsequent investigation, giving rise to one of the most relevant archaeological finds of recent decades in the country.

Everything indicates that this tomb was intended for a high-ranking person within one of the neighborhoods of the ancient Zapotec city located around the Cerro de la Cantera, and that the place continued to be visited and resignified by later generations.

This funerary chamber, found in 2025, “corresponding to the Late Classic, significantly expands knowledge about the social organization, writing, worldview and funerary practices of the native peoples of the region,” it was reported in the Mañanera del Pueblo headed by the head of the executive in Veracruz.

Among the details, it is described that from the access to the so-called Tomb 10 of Huitzo a notable symbolic load is revealed. “An owl – a bird associated in the Zapotec worldview with night, death and power – decorates the entrance to the antechamber. Under its beak is preserved the stuccoed and painted face of a Zapotec character, possibly the ancestor to whom the tomb was dedicated, conceived as an intermediary between his descendants and the divinities.”

The threshold is flanked by a lintel crowned by a frieze composed of tombstones engraved with calendrical names, while on the jambs the figures of a man and a woman appear carved, dressed in headdresses and ritual objects, interpreted as possible guardians of the funerary enclosure.

Inside, the walls of the funerary chamber preserve sections of an extraordinary mural painting done in shades of ocher, white, green, red and blue. The scene represents a procession of characters carrying bags of copal and advancing towards the entrance, an image that reinforces the ritual character of the space and offers a direct window into the Zapotec ceremonial practices of the Late Classic period.

This exceptional Tomb 10, it was assured, is in the custody and protection of the government of Mexico and the Ministry of Culture, through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH); In addition, registration, restoration and stabilization work began, as well as specialized studies on archaeological, epigraphic and physical anthropology issues of some of the bone fragments located in the majestic funerary chamber.

A mound, a well, a crypt

It was emphasized that the discovery occurred from an anonymous complaint in 2025 for looting, which activated a complex archaeological search. This shows that the heritage and living memory is of interest to all communities and the area is protected through a joint effort between the federal, state and municipal governments of San Pablo Huitzo, which provides operational support and permanent accompaniment.

The story of the rediscovery began months before, with a field inspection led by archaeologists Cira Martínez and Iván Salazar Beltrán, who, guided by a shepherd familiar with the terrain and accompanied by local authorities, identified an anomaly on the surface of the highest part of the Cantera hill. That irregularity in the ground marked the beginning of a specialized excavation that led to the discovery of the tomb.

The excavation was carried out by specialists Jorge Bautista Hernández and Gabriela Galicia Moreno, who located a well that led to a crypt with a stepped vault, built with limestone and gray quarry slabs covered with stucco.

The funerary space measures 5.55 meters in length, between 1.66 and 2.79 meters wide, and has a variable height of between 1.68 and 2.60 meters, dimensions that reflect a complex and carefully planned architecture.

Currently, an interdisciplinary team from the INAH Oaxaca Center, made up of archaeologists, restorers and architects, carries out conservation, protection and research work on the monument.

The stabilization of the mural painting is in charge of restorers Fanny Magaña Nieto and Cristian Hernández Ortega, who work in particularly complex conditions due to the presence of roots, insects and abrupt changes in environmental conditions that affect the state of conservation of the site.

Sample of greatness

Claudia Curiel de Icaza, head of the SC, explained that the relevance of the tomb lies not only in its age or its state of conservation, but also in that it allows us to reconstruct central aspects of Zapotec life, such as social organization, funerary rituals and the worldview that articulated the relationship between the living, the ancestors and the sacred.

In this context, Curiel de Icaza explained that the conservation of the tomb is part of a broader public policy of heritage protection, and stressed that “it is not an isolated action, but rather a sustained commitment of the Mexican State to investigate, conserve and share its cultural heritage with society.”

In parallel, ceramic analyzes of miniature vessels of different temporalities found outside the chamber are carried out, as well as iconographic and epigraphic studies aimed at deciphering the meanings of the mask, the frieze, the jambs and the murals.

Physical anthropology research is also carried out based on the few bone fragments recovered inside the tomb, which will allow us to deepen our knowledge of those who were deposited in this funerary space.

Due to the quality of its architecture and the richness of its decoration, the archaeological team at the INAH Oaxaca Center compares the crypt on Cerro de la Cantera with Tomb 5 on the nearby Cerro de la Campana, in Suchilquitongo, a funerary complex that stands out for its jambs, stucco masks, reliefs and more than 40 square meters of mural painting.

These comparisons allow us to place the find within a complex Zapotec funerary tradition, associated with prominent lineages of the Late Classic period, between 600 and 900 AD.

For the federal Ministry of Culture, “findings like this confirm that archaeological heritage not only belongs to the past, but continues to produce knowledge for the present.”

The agency emphasized: “talking about this discovery is also talking about living cultures, of peoples who maintain a deep relationship with their territory, their memory and their identity. This presentation allows us to share with society concrete advances in scientific and conservation work, and reaffirms the commitment of the Mexican State to the protection of archaeological heritage.”

San Pablo Huitzo, according to the municipality’s website, is one of the oldest communities in Oaxaca in the Central Valleys region. “Its origins date back to the establishment of the first sedentary agricultural villages, and since then it has been part of the historical development” of the entity and the nation.

The territory that this place currently occupies “has been inhabited practically uninterruptedly by the cultures that arrived and developed in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, due to the favorable climatic, hydrological and geological conditions that allowed their establishment, taking advantage mainly of the fertility of the valley lands, the bed of the Atoyac River and its tributaries.”

In its history, several eras are remembered for their relevance, such as the pre-Hispanic era, the viceregal era, the Independence era and the railroad era.

Of the first, it is specified on the website of that municipality that throughout the territory that the municipality occupies today there is evidence of archaeological vestiges “that account for the development and high degree of sophistication reached by the human groups that settled there, having the presence of elements of the Mixtec, Zapotec and Nahua cultures, thus being an important passage and point of exchange.”

It is stated that “the oldest vestiges explored are found at the site of La Lomita, in the Rosario neighborhood or Second Section of the municipality. This place shows signs of occupation during the Middle Preclassic period (1300 years BC) until the Late Postclassic period (1200-1521 years AD).” Scholars propose that these pre-Hispanic elements are evidence “of an early sedentary agricultural village, since the settlement is located on the banks of the current Cuajilote stream, and it is believed that it could have been a chiefdom contemporary with San José Mogote.”

On the other hand, the aforementioned municipality describes that on September 7, 1967, the discovery of a tomb at this site was reported. “The archaeologists proposed that the remains corresponded to the layout of a palace of a high-ranking family. Of this occupation, the discovery of Tomb 1967-1 stands out, which was built from elements of a previous building. The façade of the tomb stands out for the lintel decorated with painted skulls, a possible representation of the Zapotec god Pitao Pezelao, as well as the jambs that support it and other elements distributed on its façade.”

Then, with the arrival of the Mexica, “approximately in the year 1494, the community was called in the Nahuatl language as Cuauhxilotitan (place or land of cuajlote trees), thus being a point for collecting tribute from neighboring communities. In the Tax Registration and the Mendocino Codex “The community was identified with the glyph that today is our official shield.”