Caves of Yagul and Mitla

I visited this WHS in December 2021. Getting there and back to Oaxaca is quite straightforward, unless there are some of the recurring demonstrations blocking off the roads to and from Oaxaca. There are a couple of pueblo magicos famous mostly for pottery on the way to Yagul.

Two main "panels" of the Yagul Caves are visible from the highway (just a few metres away from a huge stone sign welcoming you to the Yagul Archaeological Site which is about 500 meters further up a side street with mezcal fields in a lovely hilly landscape also declared as a national natural monument. These panels were most probably once cave walls above a cliff but the rest of these caves collapsed being made up of brittle sandstone and earthquakes being a frequent phenomenon here (felt a minor one when we visited!). Access to the cliff with these panels and other caves is blocked off by a rotten wooden gate which would be opened by a registered guide if you really want to head closer to the prehistoric caves (at your own risk since everything seems to be crumbling down!). There is also a raised platform to view the two panels but you would only be seeing what is already visible from the road from a little bit closer. Bring binoculars or a good zoom lens with you and you will still manage to get the gist of this rather poor WHS. Further left to the panel with a white stick …

Time of visit: November 2021

Duration of visit: 2 hours

Mode of transportation: by rental car, from Oaxaca

Review and experience

I'm really conflicted on how to actually review this site. For context, I visited the Yagul Archaeology Site. As several have noted below, I appreciated visiting a minor site and being one of the only visitors during my time there. As an archaeology enthusiast, I always love sites where visitors can get up close and personal without the disturbance of a large crowd. However, if Yagul were a standalone site, I would've felt that it is rather insignificant, because while the particular site has been occupied from 500 BC, majority of the structure visible was built in the Late Postclassical era (right before European contact) - so for its recency and the abundance of archaeological sites in Mexico, it's not particularly unique or impressive. 

Logistically, the site was very easy to access. It's clearly labeled on Google Maps with easy to read road signs. There is a paved straight road from the main highway to access the site itself. However, the naming of this WHS is confusing, as I at first confused the more visited Mitla Archaeology Site! Oops...

Now the conflict, and why I'm giving it a higher rating. I think the caves are hugely important from a world heritage perspective. They provide evidence for the earliest known domestication of corn (maize), along with other several crops. Agriculture is the foundation of …

This WHS is already well reviewed by the first three reviewers and my visit was quite similar to that of Carlo and Nan. I will try to provide complementary information from my visit.

Like Carlo, me and my friend only visited the archeological zone of Yagul, and we were about the only visitors there. We started with La Fortaleza and enjoyed the nice view over the ruins, the surrounding mountains and agricultural fields around. You can see the little tableland-ish mountain where most caves are located. We then visited the ruins themselves. Many sings are within the site with plenty of information and make visiting by yourself quite easy. You can get into some old tombs, which is quite cool. El palacio de los seis patios and el juego de pelota remain the most impressive constructions there.

Getting there was not as straight forward and easy as stated by Nan in his review. Our plan for that day was to visit most sites in the Central Valley from Oaxaca, starting with El Tule and then moving to Yagul, Mitla and maybe Hierve el Agua. When we arrived where we've been told to take the collectivo for El Tule, most streets were closed and policemen where everywhere. We've heard that "pacific" protest happened the day before and that people died. So they were trying to control the traffic as much as possible and avoid other events. With the help of other tourists and policemen, we finally found the only …

Have you ever had that feeling when you didn't expect much from a "minor" site but for some reason, your experience visiting it was fun and satisfying? I would count visiting Zona Arqueologica de Yagul--which is part of the core zone of this WHS--as such. 

The Executive Summary indicates that the site contains pre-historic caves and rock shelters and a couple of pre-Hispanic archeological complexes, one of which is the archeological site of Yagul, commonly associated with the Zapotec civilization. The nomination text adds that this cultural landscape represents the interaction between "man and nature that gave origin to the domestication of plants...allowing the rise of Mesoamerican civilizations", which reminds me of one of the justifications/aspects of Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley WHS. If you haven't checked the map or the nomination file, you could probably make a mistake of thinking that you've ticked this one off by visiting the more popular archeological site of Mitla (which people said was excellent!).

My buddy and I drove to this site as a half-day trip from the city of Oaxaca on Holy Thursday, April 2019, chancing that it would be open during this important Catholic holiday. Getting there from Oaxaca is pretty straightforward, and the 40-minute drive through Hwy 190 is smooth despite the occasional pesky topes. For those taking public transportation, Lonely Planet says that there are buses that ply between Oaxaca and the town of Mitla, passing by the turnoff that leads to this site.

Sources indicate that the site …

This was a near miss for me. Given the title (... Mitla ...) and a wikipedia entry which at the time also listed Mitla as part of the WHS I decided to go to Mitla. Only after I had visited the site I decided to read the review on this site by Anthony. He pretty clearly states, that Mitla is not part of the site. I crosschecked with Unesco and found he was right... Luckily, Yagul is on the road between Oaxaca and Mitla and I was able to correct my error by going there.

The key feature that made this a WHS is the continuous settlement since very early times and the early cultivation of crops. There are several caves, which show this best. As I had little time, I only visited Yagul. It's a small sight with a distinct feel. I enjoyed climbing the hills around Yagul and the overall view of the valley and the mountains.

Logistics

To go to Yagul, you best take a colectivo from Oaxaca. Near Periferico, ask around and they will point you to a shared cab (less than 50 pesos). The cab will drop you off at the intersection for Yagul and you have a 15min walk ahead of you. Please note, that Lonely Planet has a travel warning for this side road. Not sure why though.

To get back, head back to the highway and make wild signals, till a cab picks you up.

Unesco …

This site is certainly confusing. When you look at Yagul and Mitla either in the guidebooks or on line, the descriptions are that these are two pre-hispanic sites occupied first by the Zapotecs and later by the Mixtecs from as early as 500BC and declined after Monte Alban and abandoned after the Spanish arrival. Both sites are in the Tlacolula Valley south of Oaxaca.

There is little to see in Yagul but Mitla claims some really nice mosaic works on the walls of the palace. Some of the frieze are made up of over 100,000 separate pieces of cut stones. In fact, the church that was built on the site uses a lot of the Mitla mosaic works and the walls are the original walls from Mitla. The picture on this page comes from the palace walls in Mitla.

The problem is that the description of this site on the UNESCO web page hardly mentions these two pre-hispanic archaeological sites other than in passing. The criteria for this site are the caves in which a lot of work has been done to establish that these caves had evidence of the first domestication of corn and other crops on the continent and therefore the beginning of transformation from nomads to building cities in MesoAmerica.

It could also be that Mexico had a lot of pre-Hispanic sites already and to get this site they emphasized the pre-historic part of it.

The problem is now to determine what are the boundaries of this …