Hohokam Ballplayers Made The Bleachers At Yankee Stadium Seem Tame By Comparison.
By Leo Banks
PAMPERED PLAYERS, worshipping fans and a high-stakes mentality.
It sounds like life in professional sports in the 1990s. But it's
actually a description of the sports culture that existed among
the Hohokam people of prehistoric Arizona.
Archaeologists have located about 220 amphitheater-like structures
that researchers believe were used by the Hohokam primarily as
ball courts. It's impossible to know with certainty the kind of
game played inside these arenas, built between 750-1200 AD. But
based on evidence excavated at the sites, and documents describing
a similar game played in ancient Mexico, archaeologists say it's