We’re staying with some archaeological sites for this Location Guide, because if you’d made it to Mexico, you can’t leave without seeing the good stuff.

For this edition, we’re inviting you on a short trip to Oaxaca in the south of Mexico. It’s a pre-Columbian site marking one of the earliest cities in Mesoamerica. Founded around 500 BCE, the city had a population of over 17,000 and was a dynamic political and economic center, as well as having a centralized military presence. By around 1000 CE, the site was largely abandoned however, with smaller polities in local areas emerging in the region, less unified around the Monte Albán presence.

Now that you’ve got a basic view of the history of the region, here’s what you get to see if you’re there. The Main Plaza is the center and perhaps the most recognizable of all of its features. Surrounding it are carved stone monuments located around the premises, including the Danzantes (meaning “dancers”), and the South Platform, accessible via some monumental staircases.

And if you head there and forget all of this information you’ve just learned about the glorious Monte Albán, fear not. There’s a small museum onsite as well as the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, which offers and exploration of the space.