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Images || VR
Objects
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Maya ballplayer figurine,
fired clay, Late Classic, A.D. 600-700, about 3 inches tall.
Photographed with the permission
of the Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala
City.
Photographed with a KAIDAN Magellan
1000 Object Rig Find out more about KAIDAN's QuickTime VR (QTVR) Products on their website.
The blue color of
this figurine is a rare pigment known as " Mayan Blue."
Use any search engine to locate articles on the fascinating chemistry of this paint that was used a thousand years ago.
This figurine is hollow,
since solid clay would fracture in the process of heating in the
kiln and subsequent cooling. At the back of the figure you can see
holes; at the bottom is a mouthpiece to blow on. Most of these figures
are whistles or ocarinas
Figures of this class are
best known from the sacred burial island of Jaina, Campeche, Mexico.
Almost every museum in the world, and many art books on Maya
archaeology, picture Jaina style figurines. This particular figure,
however, is from Guatemala. |
This
individual wears a special outfit used in the favorite sport of the
Classic Maya, the sacred rubber ballgame. Our Book
Service has tons of books on the native games of pre-Hispanic
cultures. Also, our institute offers colorful slide
shows on this exciting sport. |
This
game was played using rubber from the rubber trees, which is a local
species in the tropical rain forest. Rubber was also used in religious
rituals, to make dolls, and to burn (sort of like incense). Hopefully
native Maya rubber smelled somewhat better than old tires today. Of
course their rubber was natural, not chemical, and not vulcanized.
Rubber was also made into figures, "dolls" that were burnt as offerings. Although pom, from the native Copal tree is the best known indigenous Maya incense, rubber was also used as an incense in pre-Columbian times.
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The Pre-Columbian Ballgame of the Maya and Aztecs
Many different ballgames were played by the peoples of prehispanic Mesoamerica. The game played still today uses a relatively small ball. The Maya had one game with a small ball but their best known ballgame was with a very large ball. When you go to Chichen Itza, or read most popular books, you get a mish-mash of concepts that were not fully how the game was played. For example, most of the Classic Maya never used a yoke; the yoke was more popular in games associated with Veracruz. Yes, many Maya did use yokes (they are pictured on ballgame sculptures including at Copan, Honduras), but most Maya ballplayers wore a wooden ribbing higher on their chest. FLAAR has about a dozen publications on the prehispanic ballgames that explains all this, but its tough to compete with the explanations provided to tourists at Chichen Itza.
This page will take almost
5 minutes on a 28.8 modem. If you enjoy Mayan archaeology it will be worth
the wait. If you are unable to open another browser window and will be
staring at this page for the next five minutes you might want something
to read. Or maybe you are wondering what is a QuickTime VR object and
why should I wait for this huge file to download.? QuickTime VR is part
of Apple Computers Media layer technology. This object was created from
36 photos (35mm) spaced 10 degrees apart. By clicking and holding down
the mouse on the object you can rotate it through 360 degrees of horizontal
motion. This allows anyone in the world to examine this rare and precious
artifact simply by downloading this page. If you have put off upgrading
your browser technology, or the QuickTime plug-in, this would be a good
reason to do so. There are thousands of QuickTime files on the world wide
web. If you cannot experience this object we have provided a link to a GIF animation(296.7K) of the object
in motion. Most browsers can display GIF anims. You will not however be
able to control or interact with the object in GIF format, only in QTVR.
The entire animation will take 210 seconds to download with a 28.8 modem.
A larger version of this object is available. It
is rather large (1.6M )
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