PETÉN, GUATEMALA—Part of a game board dated to the fifth century A.D. has been discovered embedded in the floor of a building in northern Guatemala’s Maya site of Naachtun, according to a Phys.org report. Julien Hiquet and Rémi Méreuze of the French National Center for Scientific Research estimate that more than 475 red and orange pottery pieces would have been used to lay out the complete game board, measuring about 30 inches wide by 43 inches long. The building where the game board was found is in a residential area, and may have been the home of an elite family or a small administrative building. Smaller boards for the game, known as patolli in historic documents and codices, have been found drawn or carved on stucco-covered walls and benches in Maya palaces and temples. They have been difficult to date, however. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Latin American Antiquity. To read about murals combining Indigenous and Catholic traditions that were discovered in the mountains of Guatemala, go to "Dancing Days of the Maya."
