[Aztlan] Yokes and the Mesoamerican ballgame

[Justin Kerr]

Hachas are attached to yokes. There is an excellent example on display in
the American Museum of Natural History, NY. There is also number 6328 in
Portfolio of a ball player wearing an hacha attached to the yoke. Many
hachas are notched so as to fit onto a yoke, see 3493, 4674, 6895. There are
some that have tenons, which suggest attachment into a wooden yoke.  
As far as "mano a mano" combat, there is no evidence that those activities
took place in the space we describe as "ball court". There is certainly
evidence that fighting hand to hand with conch shell and stone hand
instruments took place, both as team efforts and individually. There is also
an image of two men fighting each other with sharpened bones.
 I have pictures of Barbara Kerr wearing a stone yoke at the hip done for
Gordon Ekholm to show the feasibility of wearing such items. If anyone is
interested in seeing them I will try to find and post them

-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of Archaeology Institute
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 6:57 PM
To: Sam Edgerton
Cc: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Yokes and the Mesoamerican ballgame

Dear All,

	As for ideas regarding the uses of yokes, hachas and palmas, it
would first be necessary to clearly segregate these items as they are not
all consonant with ball player paraphernalia.  The hachas, for instance, by
and large constitute ball court
markers and related ballcourt devices, and not ball player protective gear
as such.  Palmas and yugos, by contrast, are portrayed as such in the
clothing and protective gear of ball players and should as such be examined
jointly.  Finally, in those
rare instances where such items have been recovered in situ, they are
generally found in contexts that can just as easily be construed as craft
workshops or ritual caches.  To that end, I refer readers of Mexicon back to
an article that appeared in
that venue back in the late 1970s or early 80s.  Said article, which I then
thought to be the most plausible explanation available then, and now,
presented an experimental study of just how said yugos and palmas may have
been employed as stone
"molds" or "anvils" for the crafting of leather gear...the stones serving as
the anvils atop which the leather goods were wetted down and burnished, and
then dried, for the purposes of creating hardened leather hollow yokes and
palmas that could
then be stuffed with cotton and related fibers for the purposes of padding
and protecting the players so pictured with said paraphernalia.

	On a final note, I should acknowledge that recent studies by Karl
Taube and others now make clear that not all ball courts were necessarily
used for "ball" play, unless of course one construes bloodsport with stone
mauls and "knuckle dusters" a
form of "ball" play  According to this latter argument, an ancient form of
"boxing" documented by early chroniclers, may well constitute the very same
sport that continues in vogue in the region of Guerrero, Mexico.  Many of
those depictions of
"ball players" noted to date by a variety of publications and museums are in
effect inaccurate...as they more likely portray boxers sporting "knuckle
dusters," large and heavily padded leather helmets, and stone boxes or
"paddles."  Anyway, I do
believe that given these other considerations, it is likely that the
question of "ballgame" paraphernalia is far from a done deal!

Best Regards,

Ruben G. Mendoza, Ph.D., Director
Institute for Archaeological Science, Technology and Visualization
Social and Behavioral Sciences
California State University Monterey Bay
100 Campus Center
Seaside, California 93955-8001

Email: archaeology.csumb at gmail.edu
Voice: 831-582-3760; Fax: 831-582-3566
http://archaeology.csumb.edu; http://archaeology.csumb.edu/wireless/


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