Situated in the fertile bottomlands of the Etla arm of the Valley of Oaxaca, the site is located two blocks from the community museum in the present-day village of San Jose Mogote, which is about 7.5 miles northwest of the city of Oaxaca. San Jose Mogote is considered to be the oldest permanent agricultural village in the Oaxaca Valley and the first settlement in the area to use pottery. It has also produced Mexico's oldest known defensive palisades and ceremonial buildings 1300 B.C.E., early use of adobe 850 B.C.E., the first evidence of Zapotec hieroglyphic writing 600 B.C.E., and early examples of architectural terracing, craft specialization, and irrigation 1150-850 B.C.E..