MEXICO CITY, April 11 (Reuters) – A stone scoreboard utilized in an historic soccer-like ball sport has been found on the famed Mayan Chichen Itza archaeological website in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, archaeologists stated this week.
The round piece, measuring simply over 32 centimeters (12.6 inches) in diameter and weighing 40 kilos (88 lb), shows hieroglyphic writing surrounding two gamers standing subsequent to a ball, in accordance with a press release from Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Anthropology and Historical past (INAH).
“On this Mayan website, it’s uncommon to seek out hieroglyphic writing, not to mention a whole textual content,” stated Francisco Perez, one of many archaeologists coordinating the investigations within the Chichanchob complicated, additionally referred to as Casa Colorada.
The stone, believed to be a scoreboard, dates from between 800 AD and 900 AD.
The ball sport was a conventional observe of Mesoamerican peoples and is believed to have had ritual undertones.
INAH researchers at the moment are making ready to take high-resolution pictures of the textual content and iconography for detailed examine, whereas making ready it for conservation.
The Chichen Itza complicated, declared a World Heritage Website by UNESCO, is likely one of the important archaeological facilities of the Mayan civilization within the Yucatan Peninsula. In line with official information, about 2 million individuals go to the location yearly.
Reporting by Manuel Carrillo and Nina Lopez; Writing by Marion Giraldo and Isabel Woodford; Modifying by Rosalba O’Brien
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