Credit: X.Y. Chen & P. Wertmann
Posted on 10/18/2020 5:51:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...an ancient set of leather balls inside tombs of the prehistoric Yanghai cemetery near the modern city of Turfan... contained a central core crafted from leather or hair products and are encased in a leather pouch tied up together with a band. Two of the three are clearly marked with a red cross on the outer leather cover and were located in the burials sites of possible horse riders, indicating that they might have been employed in an early form of polo.
These baseball-sized Turfan balls were carefully examined by researchers and radiocarbon dated back to the period between 1189 and 911 BCE, which would immediately predate all excavated antique balls and images of goal-type ball games in Eurasia by several centuries.
The oldest known ball in the world is a simple toy made of linen rags and string that was discovered in the tomb of an Egyptian child dating to circa 2500 B.C... Considering that recreational ball games from olden times were played as a means of physical exercise, relaxation pastimes, and military training, Dr. Wertmann and his team suggest that sport balls made their way into the territory at approximately the same century as equine management, mounted warfare, and horseback riding...
"The earliest illustrations from Greece show ball players and depictions from China show horse riders with sticks," they explained in the study. "Similar curved sticks were also found at the Yanghai site, but there was no apparent direct connection with the balls. Therefore, the leather balls from Turfan are not connected to early forms of field hockey or polo, even though two of the balls were found in the graves of horsemen."
(Excerpt) Read more at syfy.com ...
Just send me a text...
I owe someone an apology. I knew an archaeologist who said he was going to publish a paper on game playing in ancient Turfan. I said, “ You can’t do that! You haven’t got the balls!”
Guess I was wrong.
DM for pics?
Excellent.
Michael Wood's China History 6 3 The Golden Age videoClip starts around 27:30
Ancient hackysacks!!
Do they say “Robert Mueller” on them?
Wilson?
OK, has any one seen Keith Richards around there?
ALIENS!
The losing team knelt during the national anthem and their heads were lopped off.
Hmmmm..... thought the Mayans already held that record but what do I know.
The tough part was training the horses.
I like the Kyrgyzstani version. They use goat carcasses....................
And it's hugely popular with everyone, well, except for goats.
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