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by a.d. 900 Monte Albán was declining into ruin. Perhaps as many as 4,000 people were still living on the flanks of the hill, but the great palaces and temples were in disrepair. When Mixtec peoples invaded the Valley of Oaxaca during the fourteenth century, they settled at the base of the hill. They did find and use some of the earlier Zapotec tombs, scooping the old Zapotec inhabitants to one side and burying their own elite members there. One such tomb, with the prosaic designation Tomb 7, was particularly rich. The burial was that of a fourteenth-century Mixtec prince, and he was accompanied by several sacrificed servants as well as magnificent works of art in gold, silver, and precious stones.

Peter Mathews

Montelius, Gustaf Oscar Augustin

(1843–1921)

Born in Stockholm, sweden, and educated at Uppsala University, Montelius finished his Ph.D. in 1869. From 1863 to 1880 he worked at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm in various capacities, and finally as senior executive officer. From 1907 to 1913 he was state antiquarian, head of the Central Board of Antiquities and the Museum of National Antiquities. Montelius was a fellow of the Swedish Academy and a member of its Nobel Prize Committee.

When Montelius started as a prehistorian in the mid-1860s knowledge of chronological details in European archaeology was almost nonexistent. In spite of a long research tradition, Scandinavian archaeology had not yet advanced beyond a division of the Stone Age into an earlier (Mesolithic) and a later (Neolithic) phase. There was a similar division of the Bronze Age into two stages, and a division of the Iron Age into three periods. In most other parts of Europe, prehistoric research had not even reached that level of chronological understanding. Consequently archaeologists were limited in their ability to interpret prehistoric life and society in any depth. Montelius clearly recognized this problem and throughout his career as an archaeologist he was engaged in creating reliable time scales for prehistoric Europe. No other single researcher did so much to develop traditional archaeological dating methods as Montelius. Largely because of his efforts and methodological examples, prehistoric archaeology in northern Europe by the end of the century had access to a fairly detailed and reliable chronology, both in relative and absolute terms. In fact, Montelius’s work left its mark on the development of prehistoric chronology in other parts of Europe as well as in the Near East.

As a prehistorian, Montelius did not have much interest in theory. He was primarily an empiricist and his strength lay in his supreme ability to collect information; to systematize, digest, and generalize great quantities of archaeological data; and to present his results in a clear and convincing way. Given his systematic nature, energy, and curiosity, it is remarkable that Montelius did not become a prominent excavator.

Aside from chronologies, Montelius was also interested in issues of prehistoric culture. He was an energetic popularizer. Many of his scientific works were edited for the general public, with less emphasis on chronological problems and more discussion of general cultural and social perspectives. He became a central figure in European archaeology. Many of his works were published in major European languages, and his extensive international network of contacts was facilitated by his proficiency in German, French, Italian, and English.

Bo Gräslund

Montfaucon, Bernard de

(1655–1741)

De Montfaucon was a French Benedictine monk, paleographer, philologist, and antiquary, who published several histories and