When you were at Chichen Itza, in the ballcourt there, wouldn't you have enjoyed having an archaeologist and art historian with you to explain what really went on during the ballgame? It is true that the head of a player was used as a ball?

When you join the Copan Maya educational program you get access to two decades of experience in the art, iconography, epigraphy, and artifacts related to the pre-Columbian ballgames of ancient Mesoamerica. Nicholas Hellmuth is a popular public speaker on the pre-Columbian ballgames in museums and universities around the globe. Dr Hellmuth has been selected by educational television to appear in documentaries which explore the mystery of the ancient sport.

Hellmuth has been studying the art and architecture of the Copan ballcourt for over two decades. He has returned to Copan year after year to do extensive photography of the ballcourt structures and its remarkable sculptures. His articles and reports on the ballgame have included in all three of the major international conferences on native pre-Hispanic ballgames (Tucson, Arizona, Sinaloa, Mexico, and Leiden, Holland).

More important though, is what would YOU like to know about the ballgames. This July session is for you.

In addition to learning about the two ballcourts at Copan, and studying the iconography and aesthetics of the ballcourt markers, this July program will also provide discussions of the ballgames of the Aztec, Mixtec, Teotihuacans, and the Maya of Tikal, Seibal, Yaxchilan, Chinkultic, Calakmul, Piedras Negras, Palenque, and naturally the many courts of Chichen Itza. Discussions will include the ballcourt sculpture of El Tajin and much more.