I am not a huge sports fan (having been traumatized by an early fascination with the Chicago Cubs), but I am a huge fan of ballcourts.
Ballcourt at Xcaret, Yucatan Peninsula. Photo by Wired Tourist
Ballcourts are a type of prehistoric structure built for the practice of the Mesoamerican ballgame. The earliest of them dates to ca 1400 BC: versions of the same games are still played in many places in central America today. Ballcourts vary widely in shape and form, and they are found from central Arizona to the Amazon basin in South America.
Small Ballcourt at Lamanai, Belize. Cloud2013
Some of them are enormous, hundreds of feet long; some of them are tiny. Some are rectangular, some I-shaped, some lack any formal stone structure at all. Some games were played for political control, for settling conflicts, for thinning out the ranks of burly aggressive men (the losers often lost their lives), or for reasons we can't even guess at. But to my mind, they are yet another type of site worth investigating.
Carved Stone Ring, Great Ball Court, Chichén Itzá, Mexico. Dolan Halbrook
- Read more about Ballcourts
- Read more about the Mesoamerican Ballgame
- Read about the oldest ballcourt yet discovered at Paso de la Amada
Comments
Loved that Cubs reference. I too am no fan of sports, that’s why I like the Cubs…at least in concept. Last time I went to a game I was in 8th grade, circa 1967, played hookey from school, took the train in to see ‘em and was terrified my teacher would see me and my friends since it was a typical mid week day game and only about 600 people in the stands…talk about feeling conspicuous. I don’t think the Cubs now have had an unsold seat for 20 years now…I couldn’t care less about going to a crowded stadium, but I thank them for instilling in me a love of sport as a ritual, without a love of winning the game. Cheers and all the best. Love reading you articles.