The cuauhololli was a mace made of wood with a ball at the end. The maquahuitl could be used as a club, but other types of clubs were used. Most likely the maquahuitl usually had simpler grips. The picture of a maquahuitl is from The Book of the Sword by Richard Burton. They could not thrust like a sword, and so they lent themselves to a different type of warfare. They were sharp and the Aztecs knew how to use them. The maquahuitls were incredibly strong, and the Spanish claimed they could chop the head off a horse with one blow. Embedded in the edges was obsidian (volcanic stone) or flint. The two handed versions might be slightly wider and as tall as a person. Made from wood (usually oak), they were about 3-4" wide and 3-4' long. Like the European sword, they came in two varieties - one handed and two handed. This is sometimes compared to the sword, and it was a powerful, close contact weapon. Perhaps the best known ancient Aztec weapon is the maquahuitl (macahuitl). So we'll look at the ones that we do know a little about, and briefly discuss each ancient Aztec weapon. This suggests that other, less commonly known arms may be forgotten. Manuel Aguilar-Moreno writes: One finds a repetition of the most important weapons in historical sources, while other weapons receive minimal mention in only a few scattered documents. We know quite a bit about some of the weapons that were used by the Aztecs, though it appears much of the history has been lost. Each ancient Aztec weapon was unique, used for a specific purpose - Aztec warfare was a highly organized, complex affair, steeped in ritual and tradition.
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