Friday, March 14, 2014

Basketball Court Builders Uncover Maya Ballcourt

The History Blog:
During construction of a basketball court on the campus of the West Technological University (UTP) in Maxcanú, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, workers discovered that the Maya had beat them to it by two thousand years. It was 2012 and the university had selected a grassy, flat area at the bottom of a hill to build a new basketball court. Almost as soon as work began, earthmovers encountered an unmovable object. Not being an irresistible force, the machines stopped while the people investigated. They found the obstacle was a pink stone wall that looked old so they called in the experts.

Archaeologists from the state branch of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) examined the find and confirmed it was indeed old. INAH archaeologist Eunice Uc told university president Rossana Alpizar Rodríguez: “The Maya are way ahead of you. You can’t build your basketball court because a pre-Hispanic one already exists here: it’s a Ball Game court.” Further excavations revealed two parallel rectangular structures made from the pink stone. They’re oriented north-south and are fairly narrow at, 19 meters (62 feet) long and seven meters (23 feet) wide. Between them is a flat field .
I guess it was just a good place for a game.

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