ETHAM 033047

joug en pierre pour le jeu de balle

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033047
Closed yoke
Mexico, Veracruz region
Totonac. 6th -10th century
Stone
Acquired in 1966
MEG Inv. ETHAM 033047
Originally, the Mesoamerican ball game was not a game at all. This ritual, which goes back to the Olmec period (1500-900 BC), was practised by all the great cultures in majestic enclosures. It was an activity with multiple meanings, variously associated with royalty, warfare, sacrifices, fertility and even the movement of heavenly bodies. Among the Maya, in the best known form of the game, the players faced one another on a ground next to the main temples. The iconography shows that the “game” often ended in a sacrifice.

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Pre- Columbian Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a cultural area stretching from Mexico to the north of Costa Rica. This region has witnessed outstanding cultural and economic achievements: the beginnings of agriculture, the development of complex societies, trade, writing systems and calendars. The Zapotecs and Mayas in the south and the Aztecs in the central plateau of Mexico figure among the most remarkable pre-Columbian cultures.

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