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It don’t know if this is the write forum for this but I’d just like to shear whit all of you a description of the maquahuitl, and Aztec weapon used by mi ancestors and a symbol that even now adorns several of the war colleges that are in Mexico.
Perhaps the best known ancient Aztec weapon is the maquahuitl (macahuitl). This is sometimes compared to the sword, and it was a powerful, close contact weapon. Like the European sword, they came in two varieties - one handed and two handed. Made from wood (usually oak), they were about 3-4" wide and 3-4' long. The two handed versions might be slightly wider and as tall as a person. Embedded in the edges was obsidian (volcanic stone) or flint.
The maquahuitls were incredibly strong, and the Spanish claimed they could chop the head off a horse with one blow. They were sharp and the Aztecs knew how to use them. They could not thrust like a sword, and so they lent themselves to a different type of warfare - more of the broad-sword style or wide arcing swings, or downward chops.
The maquahuitl 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 maquahuitl 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 maquahuitl specimens remain and the present knowledge of them comes from contemporaneous accounts and illustrations that date to the sixteenth century and earlier.
For SpikeTV's reality show Deadliest Warrior, a replica was created to test. It was tested against a replica of a horse's head created using a horse's skeleton and ballistics gel. Actor and martial artist Eder Saul Lopez was able to decapitate the model. However, it took multiple swings. It was most effective when it was swung and then dragged backwards, creating a sawing motion similar to that of the Leiomano, the Shark Tooth Club, the Maori Warriors used
Hope you enjoy the info
Perhaps the best known ancient Aztec weapon is the maquahuitl (macahuitl). This is sometimes compared to the sword, and it was a powerful, close contact weapon. Like the European sword, they came in two varieties - one handed and two handed. Made from wood (usually oak), they were about 3-4" wide and 3-4' long. The two handed versions might be slightly wider and as tall as a person. Embedded in the edges was obsidian (volcanic stone) or flint.
The maquahuitls were incredibly strong, and the Spanish claimed they could chop the head off a horse with one blow. They were sharp and the Aztecs knew how to use them. They could not thrust like a sword, and so they lent themselves to a different type of warfare - more of the broad-sword style or wide arcing swings, or downward chops.
The maquahuitl 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 maquahuitl 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 maquahuitl specimens remain and the present knowledge of them comes from contemporaneous accounts and illustrations that date to the sixteenth century and earlier.
For SpikeTV's reality show Deadliest Warrior, a replica was created to test. It was tested against a replica of a horse's head created using a horse's skeleton and ballistics gel. Actor and martial artist Eder Saul Lopez was able to decapitate the model. However, it took multiple swings. It was most effective when it was swung and then dragged backwards, creating a sawing motion similar to that of the Leiomano, the Shark Tooth Club, the Maori Warriors used
Hope you enjoy the info
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