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Patolli Petroglyphs in Northeast Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2019

Franziska Fecher Open the ORCID record for Franziska Fecher [Opens in a new window]
Franziska Fecher*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Zurich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland ([email protected])
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Abstract

Patolli petroglyphs were recently identified at two archaeological sites in northeast Honduras. Patolli is a Mesoamerican game of chance described in ethnohistoric sources and documented in archaeological contexts in many parts of Mesoamerica. Thus, it has been characterized as an important element of Mesoamerican culture. The existence of patolli boards at Plan Grande, on the island of Guanaja, and at Sawacito in northeast Honduras shows that the practice of the game extended farther to the east than earlier presumed and indicates long-distance interaction. Given the considerable number of five patolli petroglyphs at Plan Grande, I characterize the site as an important center.

Recientemente se han identificado petroglifos de patolli en dos sitios arqueológicos en el noreste de Honduras. Patolli es un juego de azar prehispánico descrito en fuentes etnohistóricas y documentado en contextos arqueológicos en muchas zonas de Mesoamérica. Ha sido reconocido como un elemento importante de la cultura mesoamericana y la existencia de varios tableros de patolli en los sitios de Plan Grande, Guanaja y Sawacito, Olancho, demuestra que la práctica de este juego se extendió más allá de las fronteras tradicionales de Mesoamérica e indica un intercambio a larga distancia. La presencia de cinco petroglifos de patolli en Plan Grande sugiere que éste era un centro de encuentro importante.

Keywords

northeast HondurasIsthmo-Colombian Areaprehispanic gamespetroglyphsnoreste de Hondurasárea istmo-colombianajuegos prehispánicospetroglifos
Type
Report
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 624 - 629
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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References

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