Posted on 06/17/2011 5:49:04 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Mexican archaeologists have found a new ballplayer monolith dating from between 900 A.D. and 1000 A.D at an archaeological site in the north-central state of Zacatecas, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.
The pre-Columbian sculpture was excavated from a depth of 1.5 meters (5 feet), the INAH said in a statement, noting that another sculpture depicting a ballplayer was located at the end of last year at the same complex, known as El Teul.
Experts say the two pieces may evoke the "divine twins" mentioned in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas.
The more recently discovered sculpture is an almost complete cylindrical figure that is 1.75 meters (5.7 feet) tall and measures 56 centimeters (22 inches) in diameter. It was found a few weeks ago at El Teul's ballgame court, the INAH said.
...
El Teul, located on the like-named hill outside the Zacatecas town of Teul de Gonzalez Ortega, was one of the few settlements in the Americas that was continuously inhabited from 200 B.C. to the time of the Spanish conquest in the first half of the 16th century, the INAH said.
...
The two ballplayer sculptures are unique among those found across Mesoamerica, archaeologist Luis Martinez Mendez, head of excavation work at the El Teul ball court, said.
Martinez said the two ballplayer monoliths -- one initially designed as headless and the other with both head and body -- "probably" allude to a Popol Vuh story in which one of the divine twins -- Hunahpu and Ixbalanque -- was decapitated before being saved by his brother.
(Excerpt) Read more at laht.com ...
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TTIUWOP
That's exactly what I thought too. Everyone has a camera with them nowadays, but still no pic.
I looked a small bit, but didn’t find anything.
Here' a picture from the site....
Yup, just like Moron Dowd thread WO Zeta-Baby!
The various Indian groups throughout the Americas all had ballgames that they played. But it wasn’t something you’d see anybody shaking hands at.
These were essentially war games. When the Franciscans came to Florida and established missions in the late 16th century, one of their first points of conflict with the Indians was over the ballgames, because the games usually ended up leaving many young men lying dead on the field. The “games” were followed by mourning.
The Franciscans, like the Dominicans and Jesuits before them, wanted to put a stop to the games because of the large numbers of players killed during them, and they were eventually successful.
So American baseball has come a long way.
I actually knew the history of that. It was just a little joke.
Thanks for the info though.
Thnx, I was wondering how large these carvings/mounds were.
True to form, one of them was endorsing hair oil.
I thought you probably knew - or you wouldn’t have been reading this thread!
But a lot of people, even if they know about the games played by the South American and Mexican Indians, and then all the way north to the Algonquins, don’t realize that the Florida and Georgia tribes (which didn’t have a particularly spectacular civilization) had these games too.
First the Mexicans take our jobs, our social programs, etc.
Now they take America’s sport?
Say it ain’t so...
I hear that those Dominicans had great hands.
Maybe that’s why so many of our later fine ballplayers came from...ta da...the Dominican Republic?
Hohokam ruins in Arizona usually have ball courts along with other evidence of trade with the Mexican Indians (Casas Grandes is just south of New Mexico and is the northern most Mexican culture ruin). At several San Pedro River valley ruins, the ball courts were very plain and easily mentally reconstructed. Neat stuff.
From the looks of that statue I think they were using steroids back then also.
jai alai???
Dominicans+good hands=good field, no hit.
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