In the Fields of the Thunder Lord, Playing the Apalachee Ball Game: Archaeological and Ideological Evidence for Its Antiquity

Summary

This presentation examines the archaeology, folklore, and iconography attesting to the antiquity of the Apalachee Ball Game. We will examine the "Apalachee Ball Game Myth" as recorded by Friar Juan Paina in 1670 as well as several Mississippian carved shell objects (ca. AD 1350, Craig Mound, Spiro, Okla.) that thematically express episodes in this myth. From the evidence gleaned from these several sources we can demonstrate that the ideology underlying the Apalachees’ Ball Game dates from at least the Middle Mississippian Period (1150—1350 AD).

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Games People Play: Prehistoric Games of Indigenous North Americans

Keywords

Spatial Coverage