Caitlin C. Earley: The Mesoamerican Ballgame | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

11.9.17

The Mesoamerican Ballgame | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art - More than 1,500 ballcourts have been discovered in Mesoamerica. Ballcourts typically feature a narrow central playing aisle with an endzone at both extremes (1994.35.527). The central playing field is flanked by two long and thin rectangular buildings, which may have served as stands or viewing areas. In some ballcourts, the endzones are enclosed, and the resulting shape of the ballcourt looks like an upper-case letter “I.” In other ballcourts, the endzones are open. Ballcourts vary in size throughout Mesoamerica. The largest known ballcourt is at Chichén Itzá, where the court is 316 feet (96.5 meters) long and 98 feet (30 meters) wide. Many sites featured multiple ballcourts: at El Tajín, in Veracruz, for example, archaeologists have identified at least fifteen courts. Ballcourts were often placed in the ceremonial center of ancient sites, close to important temples and funerary shrines. Ballcourts were also home to stone sculpture, including low-relief panels set into the side walls, as at El Tajín and Chichén Itzá, and round disks called ballcourt markers set into the floor of the central playing aisle, as at Copán. Although ballcourts are primarily associated with the ballgame, archaeological excavation indicates they were used for other purposes as well, like feasting, ritual performances, and other types of sports, including boxing. Likewise, the ballgame may have been played in locations outside the ballcourt.