A Veracruz stone Yoke, Classic, ca. A.D. 450-650

deeply carved with a shaman in a dynamic posture with both hands grapsing the rattlesnakes entwined in a knot above his forehead, his tightly clenched hands with well defined fingers and the snake tails trailing outward, his face with broad flaring nose, curled upper lip, and recessed oval eyes, the wrists and ankles adorned with bead ornaments, each corner carved with a warrior's face with medallion ear ornaments and encased within a bird head as helmet, the striated top forming a fanned wing; in bright, deep green and white porphyry. 

The ballgame is one of the keystones of ancient Mesoamerican identity and mythology. Played as early as 1200 BC in Preclassic sites of the Gulf Coast region, it spread over time through Mexico, the Gulf Coast of Guatemala,  Central America and to the islands of the Caribbean. A physically challenging sport with only the legs, hips and arms allowed to keep the heavy rubber ball aloft, the ballgame was a cathartic arena for sociopolitical events, and "related to the cosmic power of the gods, to beliefs pertaining to opening the symbolic portal to the underworld and resurrection from death" (Reents-Budet in Janssen Collection 2005:80). 
This finely carved stone trophy has dramatic references to some of the symbolic key elements of Pre-Columbian iconography. Most notably the knotted element is created by coopting the power of entwined snakes- perhaps this is the basis other symbols such as crossed bands, the abstract knot motif, and the mat sign, all insignia of sacred power, rulership and lineage.
For a yoke with a similar figure within a earth monster headdress in the Museum für Völkerdunde, Berlin see Les Azteques (1987: pl. 35); for yokes with similar clenched hands, some holding ritual objects, see Shook and Marquis (1996:Y71) also citing Proskouriakoff  (1954: Fig. 1, yoke 5; Fig. 3, yokes 22 and 23); see also Whittington ed. (2001: pl. 87) for a similar style yoke in the Art Museum, Princeton University.