Totonac. <em>Yoke</em>, 700–900. Stone, 4 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 15 1/4 in. (11.1 × 34 × 38.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 47.16.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.16.2_PS6.jpg)

Totonac. Yoke, 700–900. Stone, 4 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 15 1/4 in. (11.1 × 34 × 38.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 47.16.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.16.2_PS6.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

For the Mesoamerican ball game, am I understanding the signs correctly? That the losers might be put to death, or is it just metaphorical? Also, did players really wear stone belts?

While that may have happened in some cases, the ballgame was also played for recreation. Scholars have found that one city in Mesoamerica had at least eleven ball courts and the ballgame was very popular throughout the region for centuries!

The stone belts are for ceremonial purposes. It's not likely players would have worn them.

What kind of ball did they use to play the game?

The balls were made from a natural rubber! They were extremely heavy and players had to wear a lot of padding to protect themselves. This stone piece represents a real piece of athletic gear that would have protected the hip and been made of leather or plant materials.

Yoke

Arts of the Americas

U-shaped objects termed “yokes” by archaeologists are representations in stone of belts worn around a ball player’s hips. This example is decorated with symbolic images alluding to death, such as the human skeleton. The frog’s head at the front references the watery realm of the underworld. The hacha (literally, “axe,” for its resemblance to an axe head) was worn on the front of the belt. The monkey head may symbolize one of the half brothers of the Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh.

Objetos en forma de “U”, llamados “yugos” por los arqueólogos, son representaciones en piedra de los cinturones llevados en las caderas por los jugadores de pelota. Este ejemplo está decorado con imágenes simbólicas alusivas a la muerte, como el esqueleto humano. La cabeza de rana en la parte frontal hace referencia al reino acuático del inframundo. El hacha (llamada así por su semejanza a la cabeza de un hacha) se usaba al frente del cinturón. La cabeza de mono puede simbolizar a uno de los medios hermanos de los Héroes Gemelos del Popol Vuh.

CULTURE Totonac

MEDIUM Stone

Place Found: Veracruz, Mexico

DATES 700–900

DIMENSIONS 4 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 15 1/4 in. (11.1 × 34 × 38.7 cm) mount (upright, wall): 15 1/2 × 13 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (39.4 × 34.3 × 11.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas

ACCESSION NUMBER 47.16.2

CREDIT LINE Frank L. Babbott Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Stone yoke or commemorative belt with carved images of a human skeleton, human heads, and a frog's head. Associated with the ball game. Condition: good.

EXHIBITIONS

Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Totonac. Yoke, 700–900. Stone, 4 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 15 1/4 in. (11.1 × 34 × 38.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 47.16.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.16.2_PS6.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 47.16.2_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

For the Mesoamerican ball game, am I understanding the signs correctly? That the losers might be put to death, or is it just metaphorical? Also, did players really wear stone belts?

The stone belts are for ceremonial purposes. It's not likely players would have worn them.

What kind of ball did they use to play the game?