A probable structure for the ball game in the Citadel, Teotihuacan

Abstract

Several archaeological indicators suggest that the ball game was an activity known and practiced in the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The mural of Tepantitla shows different ways to play ball in an open space with mobile markers or, possibly, in a field flanked by parallel structures.

The article is a synthesis of the information known until now on the practice of the ball game in Teotihuacan. We also present new data on a large architectonical structure excavated recently in the Ciudadela complex and identified as a ball game structure used in the earliest Teotihuacan phases.