Archaeologists discover ancient Mayan game – here’s what it can teach modern educators (2023)

FAQs

What is the Mayan game? ›

The ancient Maya ballgame called pitz was part of Maya political, religious, and social life. Played with a rubber ball ranging in size from that of a softball to a soccer ball, players would attempt to bounce the ball without using their hands through stone hoops attached to the sides of the ball court.

They used a rubber ball, about 20 inches in diameter, to play the Game, which was played on a stone "court" whose measurements varied.

How it was played (probably) Pok-A-Tok is like a cross between soccer and basketball—except much, much more difficult to play. The object of the game was for the two opposing side to try and hit the hard rubber ball into a stone hoop placed at both ends of the playing field. The kicker?

Players would play on teams of two to four. Each team passed the ball back and forth between themselves and members of the opposing team. They were only allowed to hit the ball with their legs, arms and hips. Hitting with the hands was not permitted.

The angry gods (the losers) then sacrifice both of the twins (the winners), but the gods of the sky bring them back to life.

One of the many things the ancient Maya are remembered for is their ball game, which they called pitz. This game is more than 3,000 years old.

Amazing Fact: Did you know that the Maya played the earliest team sport in the world? It was a ballgame using a rubber ball and the players could only hit the ball using their hips, elbows or knees! They were never allowed to use their hands, feet or head!

The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modernized version of the game, ulama, is still played by the indigenous populations in some places.

The great ballplaying brothers 1 Hunahpu and 7 Hunahpu were summoned by the lords of Xibalba, to a ballgame in the Underworld. However, the gods won the game by deception and sacrificed the two brothers, hanging 1 Hunahpu's head on a calabash tree, to proclaim their victory.

In the Popol Vuh, known as the Mayan Bible, the twin gods Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué descended into the underworld (Xibalbá) to play the ball game against the principal lords of Xibalbá; Hun Camé and Vucub Camé.

Why did the Mayans sacrifice human beings? ›

Many of the region's cultures, including the Maya and the Mexica, believed that human sacrifice nourished the gods. Without it, the sun would cease to rise and the world would end. And sacrificial victims earned a special, honored place in the afterlife.

The Maya ballgame was more than just an athletic event; it was also a religious event of regeneration that the Maya saw as integral to their continued existence. The Maya showed devotion to their gods by playing the game and by sacrifices.

The Maya used the game as a stand‐in for warfare, settling territory disputes and hereditary issues, and to foretell the future. Captives of wars were forced to play (undoubtedly rigged) games that resulted in their sacrifice when they lost.

Although much of the Maya life was spent doing hard work, they did enjoy entertainment as well. A lot of their entertainment was centred around religious ceremonies. They played music, danced, and played games such as the Maya ball game.

The players were only allowed to use their heads, elbows, legs, and hips to hit the ball. The ball was not allowed to touch the ground, so the players often dove to avoid losing points. If one of the teams got the ball through the stone hoop, the game was over and that team won.

There are two teams –with two to five players on each team. The players must keep the ball in the air without using their hands or their feet. This meant using your hips, knees, thighs, upper arms and elbows to keep the ball in the air. The ball must not touch the ground.

The answer to both questions is no; the players were most likely not sacrificed, and the ball wasn't meant to go through the hoop, although it likely happened from time to time, said Christophe Helmke, an associate professor at the Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

Human sacrifice was practiced right up until the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, well after the decline of the city.

In general, slaves were not treated badly. Sometimes they actually had easier lives than peasants, depending on what job they did and where their masters lived. But slaves were not free to come and go as they pleased. Often they were sacrificed when their masters died.

The game was invented sometime in the Preclassical Period (2500-100 BCE), probably by the Olmec, and became a common Mesoamerican-wide feature of the urban landscape by the Classical Period (300-900 CE). Eventually, the game was even exported to other cultures in North America and the Caribbean.

What did the Mayan invent? ›

Two thousand years ago, the ancient Maya developed one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. They developed a written language of hieroglyphs and invented the mathematical concept of zero. With their expertise in astronomy and mathematics, the Maya developed a complex and accurate calendar system.

MAYA CULTURE AND ACHIEVEMENTS. The Ancient Mayans developed the science of astronomy, calendar systems, and hieroglyphic writing.

One of the most amazing things to come from the astronomical observations of the Maya was their calendar system. Using their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, the ancient Maya developed one of the most accurate calendar systems in human history.

One of the most important games in Aztec history was the ballgame referred to as ōllamalitzli. The term 'ōllamalitzli' translates to 'rubber to play ball'. In fact, the ballgame was common throughout much of Mesoamerica and was played by many different groups of people, including: Maya, Teotihuacan, and the Aztec.

Answer and Explanation: The Mayans did not invent basketball. They did invent 'pok-a-tok', which is similar to basketball in that it involved players trying to get rubber balls through hoops.

The mesoamerican ball game originates in a mayan creation myth in which a pair of brothers are tricked into playing the game with the gods of Xibalba(the underworld) and are subsequently decapitated (Cartwright 2013). Painted ceramic artifacts depict kings re-enacting the mythological game dressed as gods.

No, the Aztecs did not invent basketball. The sport of basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts by Dr. James Naismith in December of 1891. The Aztec ball game was very different from basketball, despite attempting to get a ball through a hoop.

The Maya don't actually speak Mayan. Rather, they speak Tsotsil, Mam, K'iche' or any of the various languages in the Mayan language family. Linguists who specialize in the study of Mayan languages represent these languages in a branching structure that shows how they are related to one another.

Scholars have suggested a number of potential reasons for the downfall of Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare, shifting trade routes and extended drought.

The archaeologist thinks that the Maya wanted the bodies of their rules to "be converted into a life force, something to stimulate their people" and therefore worked their ashes into the rubber used to make balls for the game.

How many Mayan gods exist? ›

The Maya had a bewildering number of gods, with at least 166 named deities. This is partly because each of the gods had many aspects.

The ancient ball game—which the Mayans are believed to have played some 3,500 years ago—is a precursor to the sport known today as soccer, or football.

The traditional Maya or Mayan religion of the extant Maya peoples of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán states of Mexico is part of the wider frame of Mesoamerican religion.

The Maya had a system of serfdom and slavery. Serfs typically worked lands that belonged to the ruler or local town leader. There was an active slave trade in the Maya region, and commoners and elites were both permitted to own slaves.

Maya religion was polytheistic, which means they believed in many gods. Central to the Maya religion was animism, a belief that all things, even inanimate objects, had a soul. The Maya word for this sacredness of all things was k'uh. The life of the Maya revolved around the life cycle of corn.

Both the Olmec and the Maya invented many things, but they never used the wheel, and they never made metal weapons or tools.

Some Mayan ball games were played to resolve bitter disputes between rival cities or as a proxy for war. The Maya also saw the game as a battle between the gods of death and the gods of life or between good and evil. They also saw it as a reminder of the Hero Twins, who overcame death and became demi-gods themselves.

While the ballgame was a source of sport and entertainment in ancient Mesoamerica, it also had important symbolic associations. Some scholars have suggested that the movement of the ball across the court is analogous to the movement of the sun across the sky.

Mayan Astronomy and Calendar-Making

They also used astrological cycles to aid in planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today. The first, known as the Calendar Round, was based on two overlapping annual cycles: a 260-day sacred year and a 365-day secular year.

The winners of the war also won the ball game, after which the losers were then sacrificed, either by decapitation or removal of the heart. How frequently this happened is unknown, although historians have shown that the practice increased later on in Maya civilization and may have been a symptom of society's decline.

Why was the Mesoamerican ballgame banned? ›

It was spiritual enough that Spanish Roman Catholic priests encountering the Aztec Empire banned it during the conquest. But the Aztecs were also rampant ulama gamblers. "It was such an addiction to play the game that some people even bet their own lives, becoming slaves if they lost," Aguilar says.

The winners of the game were treated as heroes and given a great feast. The penalty for losing a game was sometimes unusually harsh: death. The leader of the team who lost the game was sometimes killed.

For the Maya, Pok-A-Tok was more than just a challenging game; it symbolized the struggle of life over death, and war and hunting. Today, win or lose, no one is sacrificed at the end of the game, and minor modifications have also been made.

pok-a-tok | NCpedia. Definition: A ritual ball game of the Maya, versions of which are found throughout Mesoamerica. Played with a solid rubber ball, and heavy pads, the object of the game was to knock the ball with any part of the body except the hands through a stone scoring ring.

The Ball Game was more a ceremonial ritual than a sport and probably represented the symbolic recreation of the mythical combat between night and day.

The first team to hit the ball through a stone ring is immediately declared the winner and the game is then over. The players on the winning team will be treated like heroes. However, the captain of the losing team may be sacrificed by decapitation or other means.

If your team lost in Pok-A-Tok, they would be sent to death. If you were the captain of the Pok-A-Tok, your chances were higher to be killed, but if you get unlucky, the whole team could be sent to death. In Pok-A-Tok, you had to throw a hard rubber ball into a stone hoop.

Mayan Ball Court in Chichen Itza

The biggest mayan ball court or as the Mayans put it 'juego de pelota' is in Chichen Itza and it is an incredible sight to behold. This great ball court measures a whopping 225 feet in width and 545 feet in length. It is an open-sky ballcourt with no coverings whatsoever.