Editing Mesoamerican ballgame (section)

=== Rubber black balls ===
{{Main|Mesoamerican rubber balls}}
[[File:Mesoamerica - manopla and ball.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A solid rubber ball used or similar to those used in the Mesoamerican ballgame, from [[Kaminaljuyu]], 300 BC to 250 AD, with a ''manopla'', or handstone, used to strike the ball.]]
The sizes or weights of the balls actually used in the ballgame are not known with any certainty. While several dozen ancient balls have been recovered, they were originally laid down as offerings in a sacrificial bog or spring, and there is no evidence that any of these were used in the ballgame.  In fact, some of these extant votive balls were created specifically ''as'' offerings.<ref>[[#FilloyNadal|Filloy Nadal]], p. 22.</ref>

However, based on a review of modern-day game balls, ancient rubber balls, and other archaeological evidence, it is presumed by most researchers that the ancient hip-ball was made of a mix from one or another of the latex-producing plants found all the way from the southeastern rain forests to the northern desert.<ref>[[#FilloyNadal|Filloy Nadal]]</ref> Most balls were made from latex sap of the lowland ''Castilla elastica'' tree. Someone discovered that by mixing latex with sap from the vine of a species of morning glory (''[[Calonyction aculeatum]]'') they could turn the slippery polymers in raw latex into a resilient rubber. The size varied between {{convert|10|and|12|in|cm|abbr=on}} (measured in hand spans) and weighed {{convert|3|to|6|lb|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref>[[#Schwartz|Schwartz]] states that the ball used by present-day players is {{convert|8|lb}}.</ref> The ball used in the ancient handball or stick-ball game was probably slightly larger and heavier than a modern-day baseball.<ref>[[#FilloyNadal|Filloy Nadal]], p. 30</ref><ref name=Leyenaar/>

Some Maya depictions, such as [[:Image:Staircase Riser, Maya, ballgame.jpg|this relief]], show balls {{convert|1|m|abbr=on}} or more in diameter. Academic consensus is that these depictions are exaggerations or symbolic, as are, for example, the impossibly unwieldy headdresses worn in the same portrayals.<ref name=Coe/><ref>[[#Cohodas|Cohodas]], p. 259.</ref>