Ciudad de México, CDMX – July 9, 2019 – Aztec Style, one of the few online resources dedicated to the Mesoamerican history, is offering a unique slice of history and the opportunity to buy a piece of replica Aztec weapon.
The website, which offers interesting details and history about the Aztecs, is now selling Macuahuitls, which are obsidian-bladed swords.
These are replicas meant to closely match the actual weapons used by ancient Aztec Eagle and Jaguar Knights. The swords are fully functional and serrated with sharp obsidian blades.
“They are made in Mexico City, not far from the ancient Aztec capital, Teotihuacan,” said Aztec Style founder, Mixtli Itzcoatl. “We are excited to allow people from all over the world to buy them online.”
The replicas are offered in two styles with rectangular obsidian teeth or triangular obsidian teeth.
“This is real obsidian, so if do you purchase one of these, we would advise you to handle them carefully as they are very sharp.”
What was a Macuahuitl?
The macuahuitl was a beautiful, but an unusual weapon used by many Mesoamerican cultures, with most commonly associated being the Aztecs.
Macuahuitl means “hand-wood” in Nahuatl, and indeed, that is precisely what it was: a wooden club with obsidian blades embedded into the side to give it that deadly edge in combat.
They were unusual weapons: not quite clubs and not quite swords. The Taíno had a word for this kind of weapon: macana. Macana were wooden weapons that were still sharp enough to be wielded like swords.
In the case of the macuahuitl, the wooden club was embedded with obsidian blades sharper than a steel razor. As a hacking and slashing weapon, the macuahuitl was second to none in Mesoamerica.
Today, the macuahuitl is most widely associated with the Aztecs, but they were not its originators. Obsidian was used commonly in Mesoamerican weapon-smithing long before the Aztecs founded their empire and there is evidence the first macuahuitls appeared sometime during the 1st millennium CE.
By the time of Spanish conquest, however, the macuahuitl could be found in the arsenals of a majority of Mesoamerican armies. The weapon was very effective in maiming or even killing.
Why Buy a Macuahuitl?
The most common reason for purchasing a macuahuitl is to keep as part of a collection.
Aztec warriors used this weapon in battle, in a similar fashion as a sword. However, rather than merely using to kill, this weapon was used to maim enemies who would later be sacrificed in religious practices.
The obsidian blade arrangement would shear skin, rendering enemies unable to engage in further combat.
For more information about the Macuahuitl and Aztec history, check out the http://aztec.style/website or email them: info@aztec.style