Live Science
By
August 11, 2022
Maya people cremated their rulers and used the ashes to help make rubber balls that were used in ballgames, an archaeologist has claimed. The researcher and his team believe they’ve found evidence of this practice while excavating the Maya city of Toniná, in southern Mexico.
Researchers refer to it as the “ballgame” as its rules and name may have changed over time. It was often played by two teams using a rubber ball on a capital I-shaped court. The game was popular across the Americas for thousands of years. Numerous ball courts have been found in ancient Maya cities, including Toniná.