The Mitla Landslide, an Event That Changed the Fate of a Mixteco/Zapoteco Civilization in Mesoamerica

Abstract

Before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, Mitla was the second most important city in the valleys of Oaxaca, México. However, the ruins that are visible today do not seem to match the size of a city of more than 10,000 inhabitants. Geological and geophysical studies suggest that part of the city was covered by the deposits of a dry landslide likely to have been caused by an earthquake with a magnitude that could vary between 6 and 7. This landslide is monolithological, which is why two geophysical methods were used in order to evaluate its geometrical characteristics and to suggest the possible existence of archeological remains under the landslide.