Ballcourts, Towers, and Urbanism in the Chenes region, Campeche

Summary

In the geographic heartlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, academic literature describes the Chenes region as an "archaeological province" with a particular regional cultural character, in which sculpted monuments with glyphs or ballcourts are scarce components in urban systems, and even less frequent in most monumental cores. To date only three ballcourts had been recorded. After field seasons in 2016 and 2017 I confirm another example in Tabasqueño, the only site also to exhibit a free-standing tower adjacent to the ballcourt. This paper discusses ballcourt position and orientation within the four monumental core layouts, and how all four peers share urban design schemes that include structures, sculptures, mural painting, and other elements. I also will discuss what ballcourt presence means within this regional context. Two working hypotheses are proposed: a) one of a functional nature that deals with isolated tower structures found in three additional sites, and b) a combined structural symbolic premise guiding geographic location: ballcourts and the ballcourt – tower complex play significant roles in ancient urbanism that create foundations for an emic perception of culture area.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21286