The currently popular approach to conceptualizing feasting practices in the archaeological record leaves little room for diversity in motivation or identity. At the moment, the only social actor given attention in the literature concerning feasting events is hypothesized to be a self-aggrandizing, elite-aspiring male. The narrow conception of who was responsible for feasts, and the reasons for holding them, shuts out the multitude of other standpoints and motivations which have the potential to broaden our understanding of these important social events. Through the intersection of the ancient Maya ritual ballgame, associated feasting, and gendered participation, I demonstrate the necessity of accounting for, and incorporating, a variety of perspectives and motivations when considering the feast as an important form of social interaction. / text

Collective memories and how they are enacted through sensual experience of the material world play a key role in maintaining group identities. Material creations like art or social activities such as sports incorporate the social ideals of both the past as well as present; these creations can transform feelings of personhood into socialized objects. This thesis examines some of the creative expressions found within Oklahoma Choctaw revitalization practices to better understand how people maintain cultural sensory embodiments after they have experienced extreme social dislocation. Through the examination of the senses from an ethnographic approach a researcher can possibly identify those areas of culture that become embodied over time. I will be examining previously written research, oral histories pertaining to the Choctaw origin, and key material expressions of Choctaw identity alongside the contemporary practices associated with the current Choctaw revitalization efforts in Oklahoma.

One of the more commonly known aspects of the ancient Maya culture is the ballgame. This ancient ballgame was played by most Mesoamerican cultures on a constructed ballcourt and many major Mesoamerican sites have at least one, if not more than one. Contemporary Mesoamericans still play versions of this ballgame today, but without the use of the ballcourts, questioning the importance and purpose of the ballcourt that is no longer the case today. After over a century of research, scholars have yet to unravel all the cosmological and mythological mysteries of the ballcourt and its purpose to the ancient Maya. Although the archaeological record rarely supports the well-known Postclassic Hero Twin myth, most scholars continue to use this myth to interpret Classic ballgame iconography. In this study, I link Classic period ballcourt architecture and iconography at Caracol to Preclassic cache practices, to an Early Classic tomb, and to an elite Classic structure, demonstrating a widespread set of cosmological symbols that were not exclusively reserved for the ballcourt. I suggest that the four eroded figures on Caracol Ballcourt Markers 1 and 2 represent east, west, zenith, and nadir, and that the north-south alignment of Classic Southern Lowland ballcourts was the result of a vertical visualization of the three ballcourt markers. This study shows that the Maya ballcourt was a cosmogram, intended to delineate sacred space and demarcate a portal into the underworld.

The following work presents a hypothesis which identifies the origins and meaning of an ancient Mesoamerican concept known as the three stones of creation. Previous interpretations have tended to apply astronomical, spatial, or geographical models, while many conclusions have been made on the basis of one Classic Maya monument, Stela C of Quirigua. This thesis builds an argument for the temporal nature of these “stones,” used to metaphorically represent a sequence of separate units of time, referred to as eras, ages, or creations. A primary goal is to demonstrate that Quirigua Stela C provides in brief, summary form a chronology which is better defined through inscriptions in the Cross Group at Palenque, and in a sequence of panels at Yaxchilan containing beliefs about the origins of the ballgame. In constructing an argument for the temporal nature of the three stones of creation, every available context from a set of hieroglyphs mentioned in the Quirigua Stela C “creation” text—including Na Ho Chan (“First 5-Sky”) and “6-Sky”—is discussed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, these glyphs are shown to aid in the organization of the deeper past within the Palenque and Yaxchilan mythologies. When compared chronologically and thematically, these sites seem to point to the 24th century B.C.E. as the important termination of a time period (i.e., the planting of a creation stone) related to a mythic complex involving the death and underworld journey of the Maize Lord, followed by his resurrection, emergence, and/or accession to power. Key questions addressed include the antiquity of these beliefs and where the metaphors used to arrange time observed among the Classic Maya originate. In Chapter 4, earlier expressions of this time ideology are interpreted through iconographic conventions, ritual deposits, and monumental architecture at the Olmec site of La Venta. Similarly, Chapter 5 proposes that the Humboldt Celt, the earliest known example of the three stones of creation, arranges units of time into a sequence. These and other interpretations suggest the existence of an ancestral, Mesoamerican era-based time model to which later Postclassic, colonial, and contemporary beliefs, such as those expressed in the K’iche’-Mayan Popol Vuh, are fundamentally related. / text

Le site d’Ucanal, dans le Petén au Guatemala près de la frontière avec le Bélize, est un site maya avec une très forte occupation et un grand centre cérémoniel actif durant le Classique terminal, une période où de nombreuses autres cités mayas étaient en ébullition politique ou en train d’être abandonnés. Les jeux de balle faisant partie des centres civiques ont très souvent été fouillés dans des optiques reliées aux activités cérémonielles et à l’élite. Ce mémoire propose d’étudier les déchets provenant des dépotoirs situés en périphérie du jeu de balle afin d’étudier les activités pratiquées par les spectateurs et non juste celles des officiants. Pour ce faire, une analyse globale de tous les artefacts (lithiques, céramiques et fauniques) du jeu de balle #1 du groupe A d’Ucanal a été réalisée. Des analyses de la distribution des artefacts entre les différentes zones du terrain de jeu et entre le terrain de jeu et d'autres contextes du site ont été entreprises afin d'identifier l'éventail possible d'activités associées au terrain de jeu d'Ucanal. Les résultats démontrent qu’en plus des activités rituelles généralement documentées en contexte de jeu de balle, le jeu de balle d’Ucanal est associé à des activités de festins qui impliquent une grande consommation de coquillages possiblement accompagnée de musique et de paris. / The archaeological site of Ucanal, located in the Petén region of Guatemala near the border with Belize, is a Maya site with a large population and active ceremonial centre during the Terminal Classic, a period in which other sites were wrought with political turmoil or were in the process of being abandoned. The ballcourts located in civic centers have often been researched from the perspective of formal ceremonial activities and the elite. This thesis proposes to study the debris from middens located on the outskirts of the Ucanal site ballcourt in order to study the activities practiced by spectators instead of focusing solely on the formal activities within the court itself. To do so, a holistic documentation of all the artifacts (lithic, ceramic and fauna) was conducted from excavations of ballcourt #1 of group A of Ucanal. Artifact distribution analyses between different zones of the ballcourt and between the ballcourt and other areas of the site were undertaken to identify the possible range of activities associated with Ucanal’s ballcourt. The results show that in addition to the ritual activities generally documented in the context of ball games, Ucanal's ballcourt was associated with feasting activities which involved freshwater shells and possibly the accompaniment of music and gambling.

環顧國內，整體運動產業之發展，雖有稱作是運動休閒服務之產業，但大多都是傳統的商品販售模式，而非以價值交換為主的服務模式；而近年來在國內各項個人運動隨著穿戴式裝置開始風行之後，無論是慢跑、單車、三鐵等都非常盛行，也連帶著促進了整個運動產業的蓬勃發展。此外，團體球類運動一直以來都相當的風行，而且特別是當國家代表隊於國際賽事上有重大表現時，就會成為全民熱烈討論之話題，也往往會帶起一陣運動消費風氣；由此可見運動實為一個國家展現其國力的重要指標之一，但我國運動產業之發展卻不如歐美興盛。 本論文研究將專注在團體球類運動的服務設計，透過解決「如何讓團體球類運動者與其利害關係人，能夠更有效且便利的保存屬於他們的回憶。」這樣的設計問題，以達成顧客價值共創的系統與服務設計思維，分析其利害關係人、探索利害關係人可能之洞見、辨識系統中之可操作性資源、觀察其互動模式，藉此得出利害關係人之深入觀點，並進行解決方案之設計。 最終得到一個可營運的商業模式，並且可以在未來發展成為一個完整的運動產業生態系統，促進全民健康、提升運動技能、掀起全民運動之風潮；並且讓我國運動產業之發展，能夠追上世界各個已開發國家之運動產業水準。 / In Taiwan, although government defines “what is leisure sports service industry”, but these companies are all with traditional goods-dominate logic business models, not value-exchange service busiess models. These years, personal sport like Jogging, Marathon, Cycling, and Triathlon become very popular in Taiwan because of some modern wearable technology, also improving sports industry development. Team ballgame sports are always a hot topic and bring a shopping rise when our national teams play at international games. This implies that sport can be regarded as a key performance indicator for a country, but our sports industry development is not good as that of United States and Europe. This thesis focuses on team ballgame sports service design, trying to resolve the design challenge of “how to retain the memories of team ballgame players and their stakeholder’s with a more efficient and more convenient way”, in order to achieve customer value co-creative goal through system and service design thinking. Analyze stakeholders, explore stakeholders’ possible insights, identify system operant resources, and oberserve interactions to find out stakeholders’ Point-of-View, and then create the design solution. Throuth these processes, we will build up a feasible business model, and create a sports industry ecosystem in the future. This will improve people’s health, sport skills, and raise sport excerise trend to improve Taiwan’s sports industry development catching up world’s developed country.