[Aztlan] Yokes and the Mesoamerican ballgame

[Archaeology Institute]

"Justin Kerr" <mayavase at verizon.net> on Friday, June 02, 2006 at 4:51 AM -0800 wrote:
>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

Dear Justin,

	While I am aware of the ocasional substitution of hachas in lieu of palmas, and the likelihood that we need to work on finessing our definitions of just what constitutes each element of the ballgame and its paraphernalia, this matter will only be
brought to resolution when an adequate body of ethnohistorical and archaeological data are produced that further clarify the matter in question.  To that end, the Gulf lowlands remain the most viable region within which this problem will find
solace.  As for the use of tenons, it is likely that ballgame paraphernalia was produced from a variety of materials, and that archaeologists and those who interpret the archaeological record, have simply made assumptions about the preponderance of
stone yugos, hachas, and palmas constituting the whole of the cultural history of ballgame play.  As with the archaeologist's reliance on stone tools, for far too long it was assumed that stone tools were the be all and end all of the material
cultural inventory of ancient peoples...and then lo and behold, bone, wood, and shell tools find their way into the archaeological record and the inventory of human cultural history.  I would argue that this same predisposition currently exists in
Mesoamerican studies of ballgame paraphernalia.  Moreover, the presence of tenons on hachas does not preclude their use as ballcourt markers as tenons typically constitute features of Mesoamerican architectural technology and tradition.  By the same
token, the use of hachas with rectangular or wedge like cut-outs for their positioning on ballgame belts would in turn easily accomodate their being sewn onto the yugos themselves.

	Finally, where combat sports (like boxing) within "ballcourts" is concerned, we need only call to attention the fact that in most ancient (and modern) societies, sports venues often serve a multitude of roles (e.g., the Roman Colliseum, Houston
Astrodome, Huey Teotlachtli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan).  As the Mesoamerican ballcourt would have been the most ostentatious of arenas for public events, it is not unlikely that the venue in question would have accommodated both ballgame play, which I
would construe as a combat sport, and "mano a mano" combat sports like boxing with stone mauls.  Another significant consideration in this regard is that once again our definitions of just what precisely constitutes a ballcourt are clouded and
muddled by the fact that most scholars who treat this subject continue to overlook the fact that at first contact, ethnohistorians documented more than 20 variations of the so-called "ball game" in regions like Oaxaca alone.  Such variations, when
weighed against the vast majority of architectonic variants of the ballcourt, like the half dozen or so variations present at the site of El Tajin alone, call for a complete reassessment of the Mesoamerican ballgame and its cultural, ritual, and
utilitarian variations.  When looked at through the lens of ethnohistory, we can find many instances where non-sportsmanlike events were convened in the ballcourt...e.g., the Aztec bludgeoning of a young maiden or Ixiptla impersonator within a
ballcourt, and then her decapitation for the purposes of dragging her lifeless body along the length and breadth of the ballcourt for the purposes of "purifying" the court in a bath of human blood.  So, given the extent of variations noted by both
the archaeology and ethnohistory, I would argue that the "ballcourt" was the civic-ceremonial venue par excellance for many of those Mesoamerican peoples who could shoulder the responsibility of maintaining such a focal point or portal for conjuring
the lords of the underworld.

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/


"Science progresses at the rate of one funeral at a time."

-Albert Einstein


"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?"

-Albert Einstein


"He who argues with a fool proves that there are two."  
-Anonymous


Confidentiality Notice:  The information contained in this e-mail message is sender-privileged and confidential information.  It is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, electronic storage or use of this communication is prohibited.