Lecture on warriors, shamans and athletes at WFU anthropology museum

Wake Forest University’s Museum of Anthropology will present a free lecture titled “Warriors, Shamans and Athletes: The Ballgame in Western Mexico” March 25 at 7:30 p.m.

The lecture, which will be given by Michael Whittington from the Mint Museum of Art, is a featured program in conjunction with the exhibit “Images for Eternity: West Mexican Tomb Figures.”

In the lecture, Whittington will focus on the ancient West Mexican ballgame, a game that was played on “sacred” ball courts located throughout West Mexico. In the game, players protected by padded clothing hit solid rubber balls with their hips. Rules and courts varied greatly from place to place, and in some places in Central America players on losing teams were sacrificed to the gods.

The “Images for Eternity” exhibit features 66 burial objects, including authentic ceramic figures, carved shells and stone pieces created by West Mexican artisans more than 2,000 years ago.

The Museum of Anthropology is located on the campus of Wake Forest
University and is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 336-758-5282 or visit www.wfu.edu/moa.

Categories: Arts & Culture, Events