Rubber balls are at least 3,600 years old. The oldest were found in Mexico in the bog of El Manatí, where around 1600 BC the Olmecs cast offerings to the gods along with wooden busts and stone axes.

1600 BC

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The event

• The rubber balls of El Manatíc. 1600 BC–1200 BC · Veracruz, Mexico. Around 1600–1200 BC the Olmecs left offerings in the bog of El Manatí: wooden busts, axes and rubber balls. The muck preserved them remarkably well; the balls are the oldest rubber objects known and were probably used in the Mesoamerican ballgame.

16th century BC

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