Ceremonial ballgame belt
- Audio guide stop: 146
- Gallery: Room 27
- Culture: Classic Veracruz
- Date: 300 - 1200
- Object type: mould, yoke, games/sporting equipment
- Materials: greenstone
- Museum number: Am,St.398
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a Ceremonial Ballgame Belt from the Classic Veracruz culture, dating between 300 and 1200. Before you is a greenstone yoke mould carved in the shape of a toad. This fascinating object was used to shape the thick leather belts worn by players of the Mesoamerican ballgame. The belts offered protection to cushion the force of the heavy rubber ball during the game.
Once misunderstood as a wearable "yoke," it has now been recognized for its true purpose—as a tool in crafting game equipment. The ballgame had deep spiritual meaning. Ball courts were considered sacred spaces, symbolizing a gateway to the Underworld. The toad, often found at the boundary of surface and subterranean realms, adds a layer of symbolic depth to this object.
See it in person
Ceremonial ballgame belt is on display in Room 27 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 146, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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