6th-9th century
Ceramic
The John R. Van Derlip Fund
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- According to the Mayan creation story, the emergence of the Sun and the Moon was the result of a ball game between the Lords of the
Underworld and the Hero Twins on earth, who won the game and later rose into the heavens.
- Periodic reenactments of the ball game were important religious rituals for the Mayan people, who believed that human blood was
an essential sacrifice to appease the gods, and thus guarantee that the life-sustaining cycles of the sun and of renewal in nature
would continue uninterrupted.
- This small figurine wears the typical equipment of a ball player: a carved hip bumper, an arm pad and knee pads, and on his head
is a mount for a headdress (now missing).
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