Games and foodstuffs at Chichen Itza: Relating patolli and starch grains at Structure 2D6

Summary

Strucuture 2D6 is a gallery-patio type building situated within Chichen Itza’s site core right north of the Temple of the Warriors and the Temple of the Big Tables. Its gallery was excavated in 2009 and discoveries included a C-shaped bench following the buildings walls with just one exception – an altar right next to the passage that leads to the patio – as well as several column caches and a possible sacrificial stone. The removal of roof debris also freed up a well-preserved stucco floor that covers the structure’s interior. Detailed cleaning of the gallery’s southern half unraveled the presence of three patolli or bul fields carved directly into the plaster surface. The same kinds of graffiti had already been identified in a series of other Mesoamerican sites and are usually interpreted as the result of male-exclusive gambling activities. Chemical residue analyses performed on floor samples from Structure 2D6 showed distinctive enrichment patterns in the patolli’s immediate vicinity. Our paper reports on starch grains recovered from that area, linking what seems to be a specific activity with particular foodstuffs.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage