Rubber wristband

ANCIENT RUBBER

The ancient Mayan people used latex to create rubber balls, hollow human figures, and as bindings used to safe axe heads to their handles and further functions. Latex is the sap of different plants, most notably the rubber tree. When it is uncovered to the air it hardens into a springy mass. The Mayans learned to mix the rubber sap with the juice from morning glory vines so that it became more strong and elastic, and didn't get quite as fragile. Both the rubber tree and the morning glory were significant plants to the Mayan people- the latter being a hallucinogen as well as a healing herb. They two plants tended to develop close together. Combining their juices, a black matter about the texture of a gum-type pencil eraser was formed.

The rubber balls were roughly of the size of a beach ball and weighed over 15 pounds (7 kilograms). These were used in a significant ritual game called Tlachtlic. The game was a cross between football and basketball, but had religious significance as recorded in the Popul Vuh, a Mayan religious document. Spanish aggressor in the sixteenth century reported that the game also caught up gambling for various possessions including land and slaves. It is thought that the game ended in a human sacrifice at least a few of the time. Versions of the game were played in the Middle American region array from southern Arizona to northern South America. Inhabitant peoples in the region still make rubber in the similar way.