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Mayan Ball Court - Chichen Itza

This is the great ball court at the ancient Mayan site of Chichen Iza, Yucatan, Mexico. It's the second largest in the Americas, constructed around 900AD, though the game itself originated 3500 years ago. The object of the game which had both ritual and militaristic purposes as training for the elite Jaguar and Eagle warriors of the Classical Mayan period, was for opposing teams to carry the ball into their opponents' home area. To do this they had to propel the ball using elbows, hips and knees only. Additional points could be scored by somehow knocking the ball through one of the two hoops on each side wall. In this court those hoops are placed particularly high so that must have been extraordinarily difficult to accomplish. During the time of important matches when the gods needed to be appeased for some specific reason, the captain of the winning team would be sacrificed. At the far end of the court can be seen the 'Temple of the Bearded Man' so called because carved into one of the main pillars is an engraving of a warrior with a long pointed beard. There was also formerly a temple at the end from which I took this photo, but that no longer exists. Close-up shots of the hoops can be seen in the comments showing symbols engraved into them.

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