The Aztecs also sacrificed losing teams (or, according to some historians, winning teams) after some games. The ancient Aztecs believed that without human sacrifice, the sun would stop and the earth would be plunged into darkness. Sometimes, ancient Aztecs would decorate the ball court with the skulls of people who had been sacrificed. The ball itself was a symbol of a sacrificed person's head. Sometimes, the actual head or skull of a sacrificed person was used as a ball in the game.