San José el Mogote Archaeological Ruins
Oaxaca Mexico
Travel And Tour Photos And Pictures

George And Audrey DeLange

San José el Mogote: : Located 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) northwest of Oaxaca City. The travel time from Oaxaca City is about 30 minutes. Take Highway 190 going toward Villa de Etla, and turn left at the intersection leading to Nazareno. Go forward about two kilometers and then turn left and continue until arriving at San José el Mogote. The museum is well marked and the ruins is about two blooks away. Just ask for directions, everyone in town can tell you where it is at. Geographically speaking the archeological site of San Jose el Mogote can be found at the "spur" of the Oaxaca piedmont projecting out toward the Atoyac River at 1610 meters above sea level only 7.46 miles north-west of Oaxaca City headed for the village of Elta. Also called, "San Jose the Wooded Hill," El Magote is considered one of the more important Mesoamerican ruins of the Valley of Etla in Oaxaca. The Community Museum is housed in the former "El Cacique" Hacienda. A photo below shows a model of the Hacienda. The museum includes an extraordinary collection of archaeological pieces. The most famous figure is a red-colored jade effigy known as "El Diablo Enchilado" recently honored by its depiction in the Noche de Rabanos. The CommunityMuseum of San Jose the Wooded hill can be visited Daily from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM. This site has not been excuvated to any great extent. It is located at the edge of town for the most part. The use of bright light or flash photography is not permitted in the museum, there is also a lot of reflection off of the glass display cases, so the quality of our photos in the museum is very poor. We have included photos taken in the museum of those objects that we could photograph. Most of the objects are not labled so we have written no comment about most of the objects.