The term macana, of

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

origin, refers to various wooden weapons used by the various native cultures of Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. These weapons were referred to as a hadzab or hats'ab in Yucatecan Mayan.

Meaning and origin

The earliest meaning attributed to ''macana'' is a sword-like weapon made out of wood, but still sharp enough to be dangerous. The term is also sometimes applied to the similar

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

weapon, which is studded with pieces of

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

in order to create a blade, though some authorities distinguish this item by using the

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

name . In the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, the Spanish conquistadors applied the term "macana" to the several blunt, mace-like weapons at the disposal of the Inca army's arsenal, particularly to the ''Chaska chuqui'' (lit. star spear) and the ''Chambi'' (mace) weapons which consisted of a wooden shaft with a heavy metal (copper or bronze) or stone object at the end. As its name suggests, the ''Chaska chuqui'' tip was in a star shape to maximize the potential to break bone. They were the most common weapon in the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

arsenal, and it is possible that gold or silver was used for the star for high-ranking officers. In modern Spanish the word has broadened to refer to various types of blunt wooden weapons, especially a police nightstick, with a shape very similar to Okinawan tonfas.

Uses

The sizes of macanas are thought to have varied significantly, depending on the application. Most were about one meter long, though other macana varieties were larger. Diversity in macana size likely arose due to various factors, including battle strategy, combatant status or position in the military hierarchy, ethnopolitical group, or

environmental factor An environmental factor, ecological factor or eco factor is any factor, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms. Abiotic factors include ambient temperature, amount of sunlight, air, soil, water and pH of the water soil in which an ...

s such as availability of chulul wood. The most dominant iterations of macanas appear to be broad, flat wooden shafts with grooved edges flanked with obsidian blades held in place by resin or another mastic. Macana makers may have made their segments shorter to produce more of them per blade from this non-local resource, especially if obsidian grew increasingly scarce. The obsidian was imported into the lowlands from highland sources in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, probably as preformed polyhedral cores. One-handed use of macanas enables the user to hold a shield in the free hand while larger macana species typically necessitates two hands. Spanish reports during early battles with the Maya described their opponents' armaments included " ords that appeared to be two-handed ones" and "two-handed swords of very strong wood tudded withobsidian." Porra inca

Archeological remains

Many of the obsidian shards used for macanas were prismatic blade segments, which are among the most abundant lithics at late sites in the Maya lowlands. Archeology in sites with macana remains has revealed that some sites, particularly those with large numbers of segments, had bimodal – smaller (ca. 8–10mm) and larger (ca. 20–24 +) – length distributions. This supports the possibility of two sizes of macanas.

Notes

External links

Pictures
from the Codex Ixtlilxochitl featuring the ''macuahuitl''. (Spanish) {{Swords by region Taíno Aztec warfare Mesoamerican military equipment