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Macuahuitl

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The macuahuitl (a name derived from the Nahuatl language) is a weapon shaped like a wooden club. Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades made from obsidian, a volcanic glass stone frequently used for tool making by the Aztec and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.

Description

The macuahuitl (other orthographical variants include maquahutil, macquahuitl and māccuahuitl), a type of macana, was a common weapon used by the Aztec military forces and other cultures of central Mexico, that was noted during the 16th century Spanish conquest of the region. They also used other implements such as the chimalli (a round shield), the tlauitolli (bow), and the atlatl (spear-thrower). Although sometimes called a "wooden sword", its appearance is closer to that of a club or a paddle. It was capable of inflicting serious lacerations from the rows of obsidian blades embedded in its sides.

The macuahuitl was “three to four feet long, and three inches broad, with a groove along either edge, into which sharp-edged pieces of flint or obsidian were inserted, and firmly fixed with some adhesive compound”, probably rubber or chicle. The rows of obsidian blades were sometimes discontinuous, leaving gaps along the side while at other times the rows were set close together and formed a single edge.

The macuahuitl was made with either one-handed or two-handed grips as well as in rectangular, ovoid, or pointed forms. The two-handed macuahuitl has been described “as tall as a man”.

Origins and distribution

The macuahuitl predates the Aztecs. Tools made from obsidian fragments were used by some of the earliest Mesoamericans. Obsidian used in ceramic vessels has been found at Aztec sites. Obsidian cutting knives, sickles, scrapers, drills, razors, and arrow points have also been found.

Several obsidian mines were close to the Aztec civilizations in the Valley of Mexico as well as in the mountains north of the valley. In a Chichen Itza carving, a possible ancestor of the macuahuitl is shown as a club having separate blades sticking out from each side. In a mural, a warrior holds a club with many blades on one side and one shape point on the other, a possible ancestor of the macuahuitl. The macuahuitl was an excellent tool for providing sacrificial victims: the design of the macuahuitl allowed the warrior to injure the opponent with the obsidian blades while the blunt top could be used to render an individual unconscious for easy capture and later sacrifice.

Effectiveness

The macuahuitl was sharp enough to decapitate a man. According to an account by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of Hernán Cortés’s conquistadors, it could even decapitate a horse:
Pedro de Moron, was a very good horseman, and as he charged with three other horsemen into the ranks of the enemy the Indians seized hold of his lance and he was not able to drag it away, and others gave him cuts with their broadswords, and wounded him badly, and then they slashed at the mare, and cut her head off at the neck so that it hung by the skin, and she fell dead.

The macuahuitl also had some drawbacks. It takes more time to lift and swing a club than it does to thrust with a sword. More space is needed as well, so warriors advanced in loose formations.

No actual macuahuitl specimens have been found and the present knowledge of them comes from contemporaneous accounts and illustrations that date to the sixteenth century and earlier.

See also

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Last updated on Wednesday January 16, 2008 at 07:00:43 PST (GMT -0800)
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