Obsidian swords

It took me about 2 years to get up to the standard I am now and I been treading water ever since.

If you want to cut off someone's head or limb, a metal sword is your tool of choice. But if your intent is to hack and maim, disable and capture, the obsidian sword is best.  Properly napped, a piece of obsidian can be sharper than any steel edge, a fact used recently in certain delicate surgeries. But in small pieces. Obsidian has a few drawbacks. It has to be re-napped to be sharpened, which usually means that piece now has to be put to a different use because it is smaller. It cant be used in long pieces because of it's inflexible, brittle nature. But it's a whole lot better than a wooden club.

Originally posted by Athanasios Were these swords that effective? I doubt if�this stone was� dangerous, even if it was sharpened... I have the impression that aztecs were�used to�make a lot of time to chop a pig back then...

Probably not, no. Obsidian is the sharpest cutting edge known to mankind, synthetic or natural - it is much sharper than even precision-manufactured surgical scalpels. Diaz, one of Cortes' companions, wrote that he witnessed a warrior with a maquahuitl sever the head of a horse in a single blow - that's very impressive for any weapon! As far as we know for sure, this weapon did cause massive trauma with a succesful blow, both due to the sharpness of the blades and also because of their unusual arrangement, which likely caused a very large and rough tearing sort of wound, rather than a clean cut.

But the maquahuitl has serious flaws. The weapon is very fragile and doesn't last long in combat - obsidian is brittle and shatters easily, and the blades are inset in wood so could come loose. Contact with wood, bone or metal would often destroy the blades. It's also an unusual "sword" in the way the blades are arranged at the edges and not nearly as versatile as a metal blade. Parrying could also destroy the blades, and thrusting was impossible (slashing only). Against steel armour - or even steel swords wielded by unarmoured men - it would be a very poor weapon. Against opponents with light armour who had no steel arms, it would be highly effective - in other words, eminently suited to pre-contact warfare.

Fascinating. Was South America the only place to use obsidian in weapons or were there others?

Thankyyou for your reply pinqin. Mesoamerican civilization is fascinating for the way in which it developed apart from the rest of the world for such a long time.  By Mesoamerica do you mean the civilizations that flourished in the land mass commonly called South America?  

Thanks edgewaters, good job, again. You have answered my question completely. Until now I was not aware a region called Mezoamerica existed, geography has has never been my strong suit. The region is not in the South American continent but as shown is the connecting land bridge between two continents.


Edited by elenos - 25-Jun-2007 at 20:32