esearchers have uncovered a 3,400-year-old ballcourt in the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico, casting new light on the origins and evolution of a famous ballgame which was played across ancient Central America.
The ballgame is one of the most iconic features of pre-Columbian civilizations in the historical region of Mesoamerica—encompassing central Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica—playing a fundamental ritual and political role in the ancient societies which thrived there for more than 3,000 years.
The Aztecs and the Maya, for example, believed that the game symbolized the "regeneration of life and the maintenance of cosmic order," according to a study published in the journal Science Advances describing the latest find.
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