Mesoamerican ballgame: Did you mean...?

A ceramic vessel with painted scenes of Maya players of the Mesoamerican ballgame. Guatemala, 700-800 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

Turquoise was a highly-prized material in ancient Mesoamerica, perhaps the most valued of all materials for sacred and decorative art objects such as masks, jewellery, and the costumes of rulers and high priests. Turquoise was acquired through...

Ancient Mesoamerica (modern-day Mexico and Central America) witnessed an extraordinary flourishing of cultures from the beginnings of the Olmec civilization around 1200 BCE, through the Maya civilization and on to the catastrophic fall of...

Obsidian is a dark volcanic glass which provides the sharpest cutting edge available in nature. Ancient Mesoamerican cultures greatly esteemed the properties of obsidian, and it was widely traded across the region. Obsidian was used to create...

The gods of the Aztecs (1345-1521 CE) were many and varied and, as with many other ancient cultures, deities were closely associated with things and events important to the culture and the general welfare of the community. These include gods...

The Mesoamerican civilizations represent a long continuum of complex societies that emerged independently in Central America and southern Mexico from roughly 1500 BCE to the early 16th century CE, prior to Spanish conquest. Rather than a...

The Olmec world developed in the tropical lowlands of present-day Veracruz and Tabasco during Mesoamerica’s Formative period (c. 1500–400 BCE). Major centers, including San Lorenzo (c. 1400–900 BCE), La Venta (c. 900–400 BCE), Laguna de los...

An 18th-century illustration showing a Mesoamerican using the traditional method of collecting insects to make the prized cochineal dye. (The Newberry Library)

A representation of the Tonalpohualli – ‘Counting of the Days’ 260-day calendar used by ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Two systems ran simultaneously with a group of 13 numbered days combined with a group of 20 name days. Thus, each day had...

A sculpture of the Mesoamerican god known to the Aztecs as 2 Rabbit who often represented the pulque gods. These gods represented the alcoholic drink pulque and were also known as the Centzon Totochtin (400 Rabbits). 1100-1300 CE. (Poza Larga...