Gulf Ballgame Viewership: The Ballgame and Center Functions

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Los Rituales del Juego de Pelota en la Costa del Golfo / Ballgame Rituals in the Gulf Lowlands" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In south-central Veracruz, higher-level centers during the Classic period had ballcourts. The prevailing “low-density urbanism” and a distributed urban network pose challenges for sociopolitical integration. How well did the ballgame accommodate at least nearby populations and contribute to social integration? We examine test cases to assess viewership versus population. Previously we compared game viewership to the people accommodated in the central plaza. Here we ask a different question: how well did viewership serve the immediate surrounding population? We then compare the ballgame to other urban services in Gulf centers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Los Rituales del Juego de Pelota en la Costa del Golfo / Ballgame Rituals in the Gulf Lowlands   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38338.0