The Ball Game at Chichen Itza

The book contains drawings and photographs about the ball court players at Chichen Itza Yucatán Peninsula Mexico. Back in 1977 I produced five pencil studies of the low relief to carved panels within the main ball court, showing the players wearing the costume they would wear when they played what I refer to as the ceremony of the sacred sphere. Upon my return to England I mounted these prints and hung on the wall of my studio from time to time I would look to these images and try and work out how the player could propel the ball up through the ring which is 16 ½ feet above the playing surface and 11 ½ feet above the raised platform immediately below the stone ring. At the time I produced the study no one could explain how this was possible.

Five years ago I returned back to Mesoamerica by this time I had worked out how the ball was controlled and how it was propelled, but still did not know what the costume was made of. Four years ago I was exhibiting at an artisans fair in Placencia, Belize, either side of me were Maya ladies selling their baskets which were made out of a material called Jipijapa, it was then that is realized what the costume was made of, because the ball 6 inches in diameter made of solid rubber would weigh anything up to 6 pounds so when traveling at 10 miles an hour it would have equivalent impact weight of 60 LB which meant that the costume would have to be able to absorb this impact in the event that the ball was to hit the player.

price: $10.00 us
size: 4.25" x 5.50"
format: Paperback Book