MARIA FELICIA REGA

PhD Graduate

PhD program:: XXXIII


supervisor: prof. Luisa Migliorati

Thesis title: Ancient Topography and Urbanism of the Maya area: the spatial and regional distribution of ballcourts in Peten, Guatemala

This PhD dissertation focuses on analysing the urban and regional distribution of ballcourts in Peten, Guatemala. Previous research on the Mesoamerican ballgame from a regional perspective revealed the crucial role of ballcourts from a political and social point of view in various geographical areas and different periods. Starting from the Middle Preclassic (800 – 300 BCE) and up to the Late Classic (600 – 900 CE), the construction of ballcourts in specific areas of the city and strategic position in the territory helps us to understand the great importance that the game had for the ruling elite. At the same time, the presence of ballcourts on regional borders and in small sites, also related to domestic areas, can reveal their role in social cohesion and community bonding. In this dissertation, the author drew extensively from previous studies, collecting a large amount of information on the ballcourts in Peten, analysing them from an architectural, urban, and regional point of view. In addition to an already established methodology, especially in cataloguing the available data, the author has proposed a new methodology based on GIS software. First, the purpose of these analyses conducted through QGIS was to reconstruct possible maps of ballcourts distribution according to chronology, density, number, and dimensions. Secondly, combining QGIS and SAGA, the aim was to reconstruct possible cost surfaces considering the landscape's territorial features and anthropogenic elements to recreate possible connection networks and territorial boundaries during the Preclassic and the Classic Period. The analyses made it possible to underline the role that the ballgame played over the centuries in Peten from a social, political and ritual point of view. The urban analyses revealed the different functions that the ballcourt played based on its urban relations and architectural features. From a regional perspective, it was possible to verify political changes for different areas of Peten according to the regional distribution of the ballcourts. This type of complex has also proved to be an excellent element for territorial demarcation and connection in strategic points of the territory.

Research products

11573/1500626 - 2020 - Political and social dimension of ballgame in North-East Petén, Guatemala. A comparative analysis of ballcourts distribution through a regional perspective
Rega, Maria Felicia - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: ETHNOLOGIA ACTUALIS (Trnava: Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda; Warszawa: De Gruyter, 2014-) pp. 28-55 - issn: 1339-7877 - wos: (0) - scopus: (0)

11573/1548807 - 2020 - Excavaciones en el Juego de Pelota de El Lodo (Operaciones 52A y 52B)
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun X. Temporada de campo 2019 - (978-80-89027-51-4)

11573/1548810 - 2020 - Excavaciones en el Grupo L, Estructura VI. Operación 44 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun X. Temporada de campo 2019 - (978-80-89027-51-4)

11573/1548814 - 2020 - Excavaciones en la Gran Plataforma de La Mesa. Operación 46 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun X. Temporada de campo 2019 - (978-80-89027-51-4)

11573/1548816 - 2020 - Excavaciones en La Lomita, Estructura I. Operación 47 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun X. Temporada de campo 2019 - (978-80-89027-51-4)

11573/1325676 - 2019 - Relevancia de las canchas de juego de pelota alrededor de Uaxactun. Una interpretación sociopolítica y epigráfica
Kovac, Milan; Beliaev, Dmitri; Tokovinine, Alexandre; Rega, Maria Felicia; Díaz García, Mauricio; Méndez, Diana Patricias - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
conference: XXXII Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala (Ciudad de Guatemala)
book: XXXII Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala - (9789929480070)

11573/1273577 - 2019 - Excavaciones en los grupos satelitales – Atalaya, Operacion 39 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun IX. Temporada 2017 - (9788089027491)

11573/1273583 - 2019 - Excavaciones en los grupos satelitales – Sakapuk, Operacion 41 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun IX. Temporada 2017 - (9788089027491)

11573/1273841 - 2019 - Excavaciones en los grupos satelitales – Sunsal, Operacion 42 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun IX. Temporada 2017 - (9788089027491)

11573/1273903 - 2019 - Capítulo VIII. Excavaciones en los grupos satelitales – Buena Vista, Operacion 38 A
Rega, Maria Felicia - 02a Capitolo o Articolo
book: Nuevas excavaciones en Uaxactun IX. Temporada 2017 - (9788089027491)

11573/1273926 - 2019 - The head, the pumpkin, the resin and the blood. Different meanings of the rubber ball across the centuries
Rega, Maria Felicia - 04d Abstract in atti di convegno
conference: 9th Bratislava Maya Meeting. Mesoamerican worldviews (Bratislava)
book: Bratislava Maya Meeting. Mesoamerican worldviews - (978-80-89027-48-4)

11573/1473823 - 2019 - 24th European Maya Conference. Contact and Conquest in the Maya World and Beyond Jagellonian University of Cracow, Poland. 11th-16th November 2019
Rega, Maria Felicia - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: AXIS MUNDI (Bratislava: Slovenská spoločnosť pre štúdium náboženstviev pri SAV, 2006-) pp. 48-50 - issn: 1337-0626 - wos: (0) - scopus: (0)

11573/1273571 - 2018 - The decapitation ritual and the ancient maya ballgame. From archaeological evidence to sacred stories
Rega, Maria Felicia; Maritza Garcia Patzan, Dora - 01a Articolo in rivista
paper: AXIS MUNDI (Bratislava: Slovenská spoločnosť pre štúdium náboženstviev pri SAV, 2006-) pp. 30-41 - issn: 1337-0626 - wos: (0) - scopus: (0)

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