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This is Scientific American's 60-second science. I'm Christopher in Taguata.

Ball games are a big source of modern amusement, even amid the pandemic, but they're nothing new.

Consider, for instance, a 4,500-year-old linen ball found in a child's tomb in Egypt, or 3,600-year-old rubber balls from Central America,

where the contest called for players to slam the ball with their hips.

Now, researchers have pinned a date on what they say are the oldest sporting balls in Europe or Asia.

Three spheres dug up from the tombs of horsemen in the deserts of northwestern China crafted three millennia ago.

And we are quite sure that they were used in some kind of bat and ball game.

Patrick Vertman is an archaeologist at the University of Zurich and part of the team that

analyzed the ancient sporting equipment. The balls are about three inches in diameter,

wrapped in rawhide leather and stuffed with leather strips and hair.

And then also when you look at the Chinese character of ball itself, it's quite interesting

because this character is made up of the ideograms of hair and leather.

The details and photos of the balls appear in the Journal of Archaeological Science reports.

As for how this ancient ball and stick game was played,

it could be something like polo, but it could also be something like an early form of hockey or golf.

But since we don't have any textual evidence and we don't have any sticks from the same period, we don't

really know exactly. Regardless of the sport,

...