Maya female ball player art

The following photo and excerpt is from my friend Carl de Borhegyi, a leading Maya expert in Minnesota.   See his website for more info on Maya art decipherment at www.mushroomstone.com  

I really do however like the idea of ancient girl power.  

The famous bronze statue on the left, of a young women sporting a club-like hand, is from Harappa, early Indus civilization. The figurine is thought to be about 4,500 years old. The standing female figurine on the right, represents a ballplayer from ancient Mexico wearing a protective helmet, ballgame glove and a mushroom-inspired ballgame belt. The figurine comes from the site of Xochipala, Mexico, in the western state of Guerrero, and dates to 1200-900 B.C.E It is now in the Princeton University Art Museum.

In Mesoamerica I believe a ritual beverage made from juice expressed from the Amanita muscaria mushroom (Soma) was probably consumed before battle and before the ritual ballgame, to journey into the Underworld, and to enhance one's bravery, and strength to its wildest levels. Numerous ballplayer figurines have been found at Xochipala and at such other Preclassic sites as Tlatilco and Tlapacoya in the Valley of Mexico. Stephan de Borhegyi conjectured that a change in ballgame rituals and a switch from the Olmec influenced "hand ball game" most likely came as a result of the powerful influence of Teotihuacan and newly instituted Quetzalcoatl rites. (Borhegyi 1980: p. 24). For more on ballgame hand stones and ballgame gloves see Borhegyi, 1961: 129-140. (photograph of Xochipala ballplayer from Whittington, 2001)
   by Carl de Borhegyi

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