Ritualistitic and shamanic religious practices were prevalent in Oaxaca valley, till the Spanish invaded the valley in 1521. Proselytism was also started in 1521, Christianity was ushered in to the valley and eventually took firm roots.
The ancient religious practices have been dated by archaeological findings (over a 15 years period of excavations by two Archaeologists of Michigan University) to be more than 7000 years old. Initially, 7000 years ago, the people were �hunters and gatherers with no fixed abode.� With development of agricultural practices, with wheat as the main crop and settled villages getting established over several centuries, a warrior type of societal culture evolved by 500 BCE, with the Zapotec state getting into shape. Concurrently, ceremonious religious practices with ritualistic and shamanistic dancing around stone marked floors came to be observed (a pre-Zapotec dance floor dated to 6650 BCE testifies this). Even cannibalistic practices were noted. The ritualistic practices were formalized, as permanent settlements were established, and temples were built to perform the rituals as per a set of calendar annual events. There were two interconnected calendars prevalent at the time- one of 260 days and another of 365 days, which synchronized every 52 years. In subsequent years, as upper strata of society (an �elite class�) came into existence, the religious practices and the temple got more formalized with priests controlling the community�s religion. Religion started to evolve around the ritualistic practices but with more defined role of religion unbder the monarchic rule which came into effect along with �the religious systems that were the previous source of social authority�. Monte AIban was founded around 500 BCE. It is inferred that from 1500 BCE, Zapotec society evolved as an organized "autonomous ascribed-status peasant societies". The ritual buildings in the valley dated to this period testify this observation. Dr. Richard
