Several carved stones, famously known as "Conquest Slabs" cover the exterior walls of Building J. These limestone slabs portray the name of a series of neighbor communities supposedly conquered or colonized by Monte Alban during the Terminal Formative. Their location on the wall of a highly representative building of the city had probably a commemorative purpose.
The place names include three elements: 1) a glyph portraying a hill, which convey the idea of "place", over 2) an upside-down human head and 3) a varying element on the top. These elements have been intepreted as representing towns conquered or subjugated by Monte Albán.
Some examples include the place name for Tutepec, an important city on the Oaxaca coast. Tutepec means "hill/place of the bird" and Tutepec's place name has a bird standing over the sign for hill. A second example is dubbed "hill of the hare": that toponym includes the head of a hare on top of the usual hill sign and at the bottom a upside down human head. Chiltepec, the "hill of the Chilies" is represented by a chili plant on top of a hill sign and at the bottom the bottom-up human head.
Unfortunately, it is possible to recognize only those place whose names came down to us through their Spanish or Nahuatl translation.