Archaeologists discovered, through environmental DNA technology, that ceremonial rituals of the ancient Mayan civilization at the Yaxnohcah ruins (Yucatán Peninsula) were conducted with ...

Now, a team of archaeologists have found evidence that the ancient Maya blessed their ball courts with ritual offerings, an indicator of how much sport meant to the Maya communities.

Archaeologists in southeastern Mexico recently unearthed an ancient crypt dating back more than 1,000 years and made a ...

Archaeologists have uncovered an intriguing ritual deposit below an ancient Maya ball court in Mexico—and it could indicate that the structure was blessed in a special ceremony.

It's well-known that the ancient Maya had their own version of ball games, which were played with a rubber ball on stone courts. Such games served not just as athletic events but also religious ...

The Maya played games like pok-a-tok, in which players hit a rubber ball through a stone circle such as this one in the ancient city of Chichen Itza.

An ornate stone yoke that may have been worn by players of ancient Mesoamerican ball games has been returned to Mexico after officials there intervened to prevent the artefact's sale at an ...

The ancient indigenous people practiced the game to resolve land conflicts or other matters and thus avoid bloodshed. Now, their descendants try to preserve it. “The Mayan ball game has very important ...

Mesoamerican ball games were of huge social, political, and spiritual importance. The rules for the ball game likely varied across geographies and over time, but as described by Gizmodo in 2020: ...