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Scienceand technology

The Week Junior•28March

A

rchaeologists in Mexicohavediscovered an

ancient ball-gamecourt that is morethan3,

years old–the second oldestgame court everfound.

Archaeologists study history byexploring sites and

examining objects left behind by people long ago.

In 2017,Jeffrey Blomster and VíctorSalazar

Chávez weredigging up the site ofEtlatongo–an

ancient village in themountains of Oaxaca in the

south of Mexico–whenthey uncoveredaflat stone

floor.The floor measured 46 metres long (about half

the sizeofafootball pitch), withstone and clay steps

rising aroundit

Instead of its

temple, howeve

believethe st ru

actuallyakind o

usedtoplayan

of an ancient te

gamecalled

ullamaliztli.

Thisgamewent

on to become an

Aztec cultures th

The Mayan

1,100 years ago

between675 a

date sfrombetw

morethan 1,000years beforeeithersocietyexisted.

The archaeologists believe that the gamewas an

important partofh elpingthese and other civilisations

in theregion,called Mesoamerica, to develop.

“It’sthe periodwhen what we think of as

Mesoamericancultu re begins,” said Salazar Chávez.

“The game wouldhavehelped strengthen alliances

and trade by bringing different teams together, and

also giving budding leadersachancetoflaunt their

powerand wealth by hostingfeasts, ”saidBlomster.

Ullamaliztli probably lookedlikeacombinatio nof

ll ll l ldpass arubber

and shoot the

he court.

team didn’t

hoops at the

tongocourt, but

did findcarvings

ures wearing

elts, possibly

trol theballwith

his suggests that

versionwas more

olleyball.

of ullamaliztli,

ma,isstill

nMexicotoday.

l c

Afigurinewith

apadded belt.

Just ascivilisationsuse games to strengthen

social bonds, scientistsare using gamesto

allowrobotstolearn how to behave inaco-

operativeway.Researchers atYale University’s

Institute forNetwork Scienceinthe US have

developedagame-playingrobotthatdoesn’t

just try and win, but admitsmistakes and

apologises when it loses, saying things like,

“Sorryguys,Imadethe mistakethisround.

Iknow it may be hardtobelieve, butrobots

makemistakes too.” The scientists found

thatinteraction like this helpedteams to

communicat eand work better together.

Games arekey to human groups

Ullamaliztli is still

enjoyed in Mexico.

ALAMY

·J.B

LOMSTER

·GEORGE

WA

SHI

NG

TONU

NIVE

RSITY

·GETTY IMAGES

DIDYOU

KNO

W?

What’s belie

vedtobet

he

oldestb

all-game

courtev

er

found is 3,

years old, at

the siteofP

asodela

Amada in Mexic

o.