Published: | Updated:

WHAT WAS MEXICO LIKE 2,000 YEARS AGO?

The period known as the Middle and Late Formative (900 BC - 900 AD) was one of increased cultural regionalism in Mexico.

The Zapotec people for example produced the first writing and written calendar.

Their civilisation started in Oaxaca around 2,300 years ago.

They had a separate and distinctive culture from the Maya and the Toltec and the Aztec.

Experts believed Zapotec people played a sacred ritual ball game which was enjoyed by many pre-Hispanic peoples in Mesoamerica.

The game was a cross between football and basketball and involved hitting a rubber ball around a court.

It sometimes ended in sacrificial death for the losers.

At the time, the Maya, Zapotec, Totonac and Teotihuancan civilisations were all becoming more distinct.

The Maya created astronomy, mathematics, calendar making and hieroglyphic writing, writes Britannica.

They also developed big cities with temples, pyramids and places for playing ball games.

Before the Spanish conquest it was believed the Maya had one of the most advanced civilisations of the Western Hemisphere.

Advertisement

Read articles that feature this panel

Mystery as 2,400-year-old mutilated remains of nine people and a baby are found 'intertwined in death' in a spiral shape as part of a Mayan...

The discovery took place in the Tlalpan borough near Mexico City by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Fears acid rain from could DISSOLVE 4,000-year-old Mayan temples in Mexico within the next century

An expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City has warned the country's cultural heritage is at risk of being...

Most watched News videos