The Archeotourist — 01

The Ballgame (Pok-ta-pok) and the Maya

Ballgame scene painted on a cylindrical, ceramic vessel that dates to between A.D. 682 and 701. (Image credit: Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art)

Our understanding of the ballgame comes from three sources: firsthand accounts — both from Spanish and indigenous accounts of Aztec ballgames, the account of the ballgame of the Hero Twins with the Lords of Death in the Popul Vuh, and what archeology — both in excavated ballcourts and artifacts like the vase above, tells us. Let’s look at what each of these…