Pre-Contact- Conch Boxing, an Ancient Mayan Sport

The Source

The source shown above tells us many things about Mayan society. The photo shows multiple people, walking in a line. The painting displays the extravagant helmets worn by the conch boxers often with holes in the front for the eyes. We can also observe the feathers sticking out the back end of the helmet and the conch snail shells worn on the hands of the boxers. The information this source tells people about the society at the time is that the sport was played for fun signaling a need for entertainment in the villages among the empire. This meant that many villages were already self sufficient enough and well built/managed enough that people could spend time watching and playing a sport. If boxers were forced to fight, this tells us that the society had a hierarchy system where some people such as criminals were seen as below the rest. Due to the rampant disease and death the Spanish brought with them, many Mayans died therefore letting the ancient sport of conch boxing die out.

The reliability of the source is somewhat debatable as no one knows exactly what ancient pictures are and when they were painted, however, this painting was believed to be painted prior to the Spanish Conquest due to the Mayan empire already dying out even before the Spanish arrived. The usefulness of the source is significant as it gave modern day humans a peak of the ancient empire of Maya and how people lived back then.

Reliability and Usefulness