Early evidence of the ballgame in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Jeffrey P Blomster

Abstract

As a defining characteristic of Mesoamerican civilization, the ballgame has a long and poorly understood history. Because the ballgame is associated with the rise of complex societies, understanding its origins also illuminates the evolution of socio-politically complex societies. Although initial evidence, in the form of ceramic figurines, dates to 1700 BCE, and the oldest known ballcourt dates to 1600 BCE, the ritual paraphernalia and ideology associated with the game appear around 1400 BCE, the start of the so-called Early Horizon, defined by the spread of Olmec-style symbols across Mesoamerica. Early Horizon evidence of ballgame paraphernalia both identical to and different from that of the Gulf Coast Olmec can be seen on figurines from coastal Chiapas and the central highlands of Mexico, respectively. The Mexican state of Oaxaca, however, has yielded little data on early involvement in the ballgame. The discovery of a ballplayer figurine in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca demonstrates the early participation of this region in the iconography and ideology of the ballgame. In lieu of an actual ballcourt, the focus may have been on the symbolic component of ballplayers and their association with supernatural forces, as part...Continue Reading

References

Aug 3, 2005·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·James B StoltmanRobert G Moyle
May 15, 1992·Science·K A Taube

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Citations

Dec 25, 2012·The American Journal of Sports Medicine·Charles A PopkinM Lucas Murnaghan
Mar 24, 2020·Science Advances·Jeffrey P Blomster, Víctor E Salazar Chávez

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