Zapotec Civilization Research Paper

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Adamaris Santoyo World History, 7/8 5 Factors of Zapotec Civilization Throughout history, there have been several tribes, colonies, and societies who have lived on Earth. However, not all of them qualify as civilizations. There are five key factors that make a society advanced enough to be called a civilization. These factors include advanced technology, specialized workers, complex institutions, advanced cities, and record keeping. Through the development of advanced technology, specialized workers, complex institutions, advanced cities, and record keeping, the Zapotecs created one of the earliest known civilizations in the world. “The Zapotec lived in the Oaxaca Valley and are said to be situated there today. Zapotecs are regarded by some current scholars as the possible originators of several key features of the great Mesoamerican civilizations that followed,” says Michael D. Coe, writer of From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. The Zapotecs helped lay the foundation for the advancement of future civilizations. The Olmecs influenced the Zapotecs; however, they were unique in many ways. The Zapotec civilization lasted for more than 100 years and they made…show more content…
The Zapotecs’ technological advancements have helped our society today. For example, the Zapotec civilization developed a calendar system in order to tell when important traditions would take place. They had two different kinds of calendar systems. One was a 365- day solar calendar, yza, and the other was a 260-day sacred calendar, piye (“Ancient Scripts: Zapotec”). Another major advancement was the development of logo syllabic encoding. This system came about due to the political collapse in Monte Alban (Urcid, “Zapotec Writing”). This encoding system is thought to be one of the first writing systems of Mesoamerica. Their advancements are some of the most notable contributions to positively benefiting modern-day
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