The Deep Prehistory of Indian Gaming: Possible Late Archaic Period Game Boards at the Tlacuachero Shellmound, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

Ten or more features, each consisting originally of an open circle formed by a series of small holes, are present on two Late Archaic superimposed prepared floors at a shellmound on the outer coast of Chiapas, Mexico. These puzzling features bear a strong resemblance to ethnographic and ethnohistoric scoreboards used in indigenous dice games. Accordingly, the approximately 5,000 year-old features also were most likely game boards. Archaeologists have traced other Mesoamerican games into deep prehistory, including rubber ball games and another dice game known in Aztec times as patolli. These data provide evidence for the cultural importance and longevity of gaming in Mesoamerica.