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Axes look intimidating, and certainly many of the commoners would have been skilled in their use, but they are unlikely weapons. Thrown, they would not have the range of other projectiles, even if the problems of balancing such a stone implement could be overcome. And they lack the reach of the competing shock weapons, such as the sword or thrusting spear.
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Axes in the codices are carried by persons or gods apparently attired for combat. But the garb worn is the ehuatl, not the tlahuiztli suit, indicating a more formal context, in the case of both gods and humans. Moreover, all of the ax-carrying humans are depicted in the same attire,131 suggesting that they are specific functionaries. This interpretation is bolstered by the depiction of the ax as an execution device in association with the judge's seat132 and in a decapitation scene,133 as well as in an eighth-century Mayan execution scene.134 |
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Knives are rarely mentioned as weapons of war. The tecpatl (literally., flint or fragment of flint) was a large flint knife used mainly for sacrificial purposes, also called an ixcuahuac. Another general term for knife was itztli (literally, obsidian or obsidian fragment), which also encompassed razors, lancets, and so forth. Knives were carried in battle (see fig. 14), but their major use in war-related events seems to have been in sacrificing captives and other victims.135 |
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Which weapons were adopted and when depends, to some extent, on the offensive-defensive cycle in military development. Aztec armor and shields were adapted to the weapons they encountered, but technological developments were not as sophisticated in Meso- |
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america as in Europe at that time. Given Mesoamerican technology, any material innovation in warfare could diffuse rapidly and came within the grasp of every group. The barriers to technological dissemination were social organizational constraints. Anyone could construct a macuahuitl, but only states could afford to support specialists who would spend the time necessary to learn how to wield the weapon in hand-to-hand combat. Weapons such as bows and ar- |
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