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A macuahuitl () is a weapon, a wooden sword with several embedded obsidian blades. The name is derived from the Nahuatl language and means "hand-wood". Its sides are embedded with traditionally made from obsidian, which is capable of producing an edge sharper than high quality steel razor blades. The macuahuitl was a standard close combat weapon.
Use of the macuahuitl as a weapon is attested from the first millennium CE, although specimens can be found in art dating to at least Formative stage times.Ann Cyphers, Escultura Olmeca de San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, 2004), 145–146. By the time of the Spanish conquest the macuahuitl was widely distributed in Mesoamerica. The weapon was used by different civilisations including the Aztec (Mexicas), Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, Toltec, and Tarascans.
At least two examples of this weapon, allegedly three, survived the Conquest of the Aztec Empire and are documented in modern literature: One was part of the Royal Armoury of Madrid until it was destroyed by a fire in 1884. Another two were excavated within Mexico City in the 20th Century, though only one has subsequently been displayed to the public. The oldest replica is the macuahuitl created by the medievalist Achille Jubinal in the 19th century.
As a result of their scarcity, most is what is known about Macahuitl comes from contemporaneous accounts and illustrations that date to the 16th century and earlier.
It was capable of inflicting serious lacerations from the rows of obsidian blades embedded in its sides. These could be knapping into blades or spikes, or into a circular design that looked like scales.Coe (1962), p. 168. The macuahuitl is not specifically a sword or a club, although it approximates a European broadsword. Historian John Pohl defines the weapon as a "kind of a saw sword".
According to conquistador italic=no, the macuahuitl was 0.91 to 1.22 m long, and 75 mm wide, with a groove along either edge, into which sharp-edged pieces of flint or obsidian were inserted and firmly fixed with an adhesive.From Alfred Maudslay's translation commentary of italic=no's italic=yes (republished as The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, p. 465). Based on his research, historian John Pohl indicates that the length was just over a meter, although other models were larger, and intended for use with both hands.
According to the research of historian Marco Cervera Obregón, the sharp pieces of obsidian, each about 3 cm long, were attached to the flat paddle with a natural adhesive, bitumen.
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.Hassig, 1988, p. 85 It was noted by the Spanish that the macuahuitl was so cleverly constructed that the blades could be neither pulled out nor broken. The macuahuitl was made with either a one-handed or two-handed grip, as well as in rectangular, ovoid, or pointed forms. Two-handed macuahuitl have been described as being "as tall as a man".Hassig, 1988 p. 83.
A third specimen was displayed from 2021 to March 2022 at the Museo del Templo Mayor for the exhibition "Tenochtitlan y Tlatelolco. A 500 años de su caída" at the Museo del Templo Mayor in Mexico City, along with an atlatl. This specimen, badly damaged from both time and the method used to protect the wood by researchers, was recovered in archeological excavations at San Marcos Street from November 1993 to March 1994 by Dr. Juana Moreno Hernández.
By the time of the Spanish conquest, the macuahuitl was widely distributed in Mesoamerica, with records of its use by the Aztecs, Mixtecs, Tarascans, Toltecs and others.Obregón, 2006A, pp. 137–138 It was also commonly used by the Indian auxiliaries of Spain, though they favored Spanish swords. As Mesoamericans in Spanish service needed a special permission to carry European arms, metal swords brought Indian auxiliaries more prestige than maquahuitls in the eyes of Europeans as well as natives.
Another account by a companion of Cortés known as The Anonymous Conqueror tells a similar story of its effectiveness:
Another account by Francisco de Aguilar reads:
Given the importance of human sacrifice in Nahua cultures, their warfare styles, particularly those of the Aztec and Maya, placed a premium on the capture of enemy warriors for live sacrifice. Advancement into the elite cuāuhocēlōtl warrior societies of the Aztec, for example, required taking 20 live captives from the battlefield. The macuahuitl thus shows several features designed to make it a useful tool for capturing prisoners: fitting spaced instead of contiguous blades, as seen in many codex illustrations, would intentionally limit the wound depth from a single blow, and the heavy wooden construction allows weakened opponents to be easily clubbed unconscious with the flat side of the weapon. The art of disabling opponents using an un-bladed macuahuitl as a sparring club was taught from a young age in the Aztec Tēlpochcalli schools.Berdan and Anawalt, The Essential Codex Mendoza, v. 2–4. UCal Press; 1997. Folio 62-R, p. 173.
The macuahuitl had many drawbacks in combat versus European steel swords. Despite being sharper, prismatic obsidian is also considerably more brittle than steel; obsidian blades of the type used on the macuahuitl tended to shatter on impact with other obsidian blades, steel swords or plate armour. Obsidian blades also have difficulty penetrating European mail. The thin, replaceable blades used on the macuahuitl were easily dulled or chipped by repeated impacts on bone or wood, making artful use of the weapon critical. 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 and fought in single combat.Townsend, 2000, p. 24
For SpikeTV's reality program Deadliest Warrior a replica was created and tested against a model of a horse's head created using a horse's skeleton and ballistics gel. Actor and martial artist Éder Saúl López was able to decapitate the model, but it took three swings. Blows from the replica macuahuitl were most effective when it was swung and then dragged backwards upon impact, creating a sawing motion. This led Max Geiger, the computer programmer of the series, to refer to the weapon as "the obsidian chainsaw". This may have been due to the unrefined obsidian cutting edges of the weapon used in the show, compared with more finely made prismatic blade, as in the Madrid specimen.
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