Mesoamerican ballcourt
Cancha del juego de pelota mesoamericano
- Date
- c. 1650 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Paso de la Amada, Mazatán, Chiapas, Mexico
- Credited to
- Mokaya culture
- Field
- Tools
What it is
An earthen court about 80 m long between two parallel platforms, the oldest known ballcourt for the rubber-ball game. The game spread across all of Mesoamerica and into the Caribbean, with strong ritual and political functions.
Hill, Blake and Clark (1998). The rubber balls of El Manatí are almost contemporary.
What it led to
- more than 2,000 known courts in Mesoamerica
- the Taíno batey in the Antilles
- European use of elastic rubber balls after contact