So you saw Apocalypto and were wondering how good that wooden sword with stones really was. The sword is known as a macuahuitl. A half meter to a meter long piece of wood lined with very sharp obsidian rock.
The macuahuitl comes in two sizes, one handed and two handed. The two handed version is a heavy piece of equipment with a lot of momentum. That means big time cutting and bludgeoning power, but how effective is it against something bigger like a horse? It is a viable weapon against the big monsters that commonly inhabit our game settings? Is it a threat to all those mythological creatures we just love to hack and slash or is there no hope of survival for our loin clothed heroes?
Let's take a closer look at the macuahuitl. It is a wooden club lined with very sharp obsidian. The weight of the wood and the sharpness of the obsidian make it a very deadly weapon indeed. But exactly how deadly. The following video puts a two handed macuahuitl to the test against ballistic gel and bone in a slow motion footage that shows exactly how painful it was to get hit by a warrior bearing this weapon.
The macuahuitl comes in two sizes, one handed and two handed. The two handed version is a heavy piece of equipment with a lot of momentum. That means big time cutting and bludgeoning power, but how effective is it against something bigger like a horse? It is a viable weapon against the big monsters that commonly inhabit our game settings? Is it a threat to all those mythological creatures we just love to hack and slash or is there no hope of survival for our loin clothed heroes?
Let's take a closer look at the macuahuitl. It is a wooden club lined with very sharp obsidian. The weight of the wood and the sharpness of the obsidian make it a very deadly weapon indeed. But exactly how deadly. The following video puts a two handed macuahuitl to the test against ballistic gel and bone in a slow motion footage that shows exactly how painful it was to get hit by a warrior bearing this weapon.
Video source
http://www.spike.com/shows/deadliest-warrior
Image sources
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/reply/399393/Re-MAQUAHUITL-Aztec-Swords-WAR-CLUBS-COUP-STICKS#.UbeFNPnrxqI
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