From a series of photographs of pre-hispanic ruins by Gordon Nicolson.
Monte Alban is the site of ruins in an ancient center of Zapotec and Mixtec culture, located in what is now Oaxaca state, Mexico. It contains vast plazas, truncated pyramids, a court for playing the ball game "tlachtli," underground passageways, and about 170 tombs, the most elaborate yet uncovered in the Americas. The site is located on high ground for defensibility.
During the first two phases of Monte Alban culture, temples and other structures were built with dressed stone. The influence of the Teotihuacan architectural style is quite evident.