Power scepters or staffs of office are insignia of authority in Mesoamerican societies, particularly among ruling and priestly groups. Since pre-Hispanic times, these objects have served to legitimize the exercise of political, religious, or military power. Archaeological evidence shows that scepters were made from a variety of materials considered sacred and of high symbolic value, such as feathers and semiprecious stones. Owing to their association with high-ranking individuals, these insignia were deposited in ritual and funerary contexts.
Scepters and staffs of office have been interpreted as metaphors for the axis mundi and the center of the cosmos; in this sense, rulers were themselves that vertical axis. In some regions of Mesoamerica, such as among the Maya and, possibly, among the Ñuu Savi (Mixtecs), rulers carried “manikin scepters” consisting of figurines alluding to certain deities. In the Mixtec case of Zaachila, a serpent-shaped scepter made of green stone was found; its iconography refers to the deity associated with the Feathered Serpent, considered the mythical ancestor of noble lineages.