In battle
the Aztecs had many weapons but none quite as lethal as the macuahuitl. Loosely
translated to ‘hand stick’, the Europeans described the weapon as a sword although
there are very little similarities between the two. It is believed that the
Aztecs did not invent this weapon, only perfect it.
The macuahuitl is made of a
wooden board. Though the board didn’t do damage, the obsidian spikes did. It originally
started off in other Mexican tribes and worked its way into the Aztec military
because they needed a weapon for close contact. Many Aztec weapons were created
to fight from afar and push back their enemies.
But the
macuahuitl was not made to kill, just badly injure. It was used mainly to slash
and cut the enemies. However Conquistadors Bernal Diaz del Castillo and Hernan
Cortés say otherwise. They said that their encounter with this weapon
decapitated horses and did in fact kill many, which isn’t hard to believe due
to the obsidian blades attached to it.
There were
two verisons of this weapon, the macuahuitl being the larger one around 70-90
cm in length with a minimum of six to eight blades on each side. The second version,
the macuahuilzoctli was around 50 cm long and looked quite scary.
Bibliography
Ancient Aztec Weapon." Ancient Aztec Weapon.
Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
Macuahuitl
- The Wooden Sword of Aztec Offensive Weapons." About.com Education. Web.
9 Nov. 2015.
Web. 9
Nov. 2015.
