The Way of Tlachtli Essay -- Anthropology

Since the earlier 1400s BCE, people of this era have compete unmatched of the earliest cognize forms of a sport that involves two teams and a rubber thump played on a motor inn. establish on archaeological evidence, Tlachtli (which translates in position to testis crippled) is thought to have been played by the civilizations of Mesoamerica including the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, and Toltec. The game was more than a sport to these people. It was a means of settling conflicts and maintaining hearty harmony, it was a very important part in the ritualistic lives of those cultures. The roughly fascinating aspect of this sport is what set it apart from other ritual-based events of these cultures. Based on how you played in the ball game was a outcome of life and death. As seen on murals and carvings showing the ball game, the sport was relate to rituals involving human sacrifice. Shrouded in speculation and myth, the sacred game of Tlachtli remains one of the most fascinating and i ntriguing mysteries of the Mesoamerica civilizations. This paper will touch earth on how this sport played a part in cause the lives of these Pre-Columbian civilizations.Taladoire speculates that the ball game may have originated in the coastal lowlands along the Pacific Ocean (Taladoire 2001107-108). Archaeologists discovered the oldest known ball court at the ruins of the city of Paso de la Amada which is or so 3,400 years old. According to most, around 300 BCE, Tlachtli was already found throughout most of Mesoamerica. Ceramic ball player figurines have been discovered as ceremonial internments in cities much(prenominal) as San Lorenzo Tenochtitln (the last site of the Olmec civilization) and areas such as the valley of Oaxaca.Many archeologists are indecisive on when or where the Mesoameric... ...ndo Horcasitas and Doris Heyden. University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.Fox, John. Students of the lame Archaeologists are Researching Ulama - Oldest Sport in the Americas. Smithsoni an Magazine Apr. 2006.Heitzman, James, Schenkluhn, Wolfgang. The world in the year 1000. University Press of America, 2004.Kowalewski, S. Pre-Hispanic Ballcourts from the Valley of Oaxaca University of Arizona Press, 1991.Taladoire, E. and Colsenet, B. Bois Ton Sang, Beaumanoir The Political and Conflictual Aspects of the ballgame in the Northern Chiapas Area University of Arizona Press, 1991.Taladoire, E. Architectural background of the Pre-Hispanic ball game an evolutionary perspective. Charlotte, 2001.Tokovinine, Alexandre. Divine Patrons of the Mesoamerican Ballgame. Moscow evidence University. http//www.mesoweb.com/features/tokovinine/Ballgame.pdf. 2002.