Dr. David Tavárez

Professor of Anthropology and Director of Latin American & Latino/a Studies, Vassar College

Decode mysteries of the Zapotec cosmos.

The Zapotecs in Northern Oaxaca created sophisticated calendars to help keep track of the passage of time. More than one hundred Zapotec manuals were turned over to colonial administrators and provide rich detail about ritual practices -- an unusual collection of indigenous manuscripts, not found anywhere else in Central America.