Of all the inventions and infrastructure ancient Mesoamerican societies are famous for, one striking relic appears again and again. The ball courts — alleys of playing field defined by mounds running the length of the pitch — emerge from Aztec and Mayan ruins and art. Archaeologists have even recovered figurines of men playing the game in traditional garb from an Olmec urban center dating back to 1150 BC.
Now, there’s a site on the map that’s even older than the Olmecs’. Archaeologists have found a new Mesoamerican ball court in a field in what is now Oaxaca, Mexico, likely constructed between about 1400 and 1300 BC. Described this week in Science Advances, the court dates to a time and location that researchers assumed was less culturally developed during that era, says Victor Salazar Chávez, a paper co-author and archaeologist at George Washington University.
