Macana / Chambi
The Inca mace chambi, with a wooden handle and a heavy metal or stone head, which the Spanish classified under the Taíno word macana for wooden weapons.
Quick Facts
About the weapon
The word macana comes from Taíno, and the Spanish used it to designate various wooden weapons of the indigenous cultures of Central and South America. The Maya of the Yucatán called such a weapon hadzab or hats'ab, while among the Aztecs it corresponds to the macuahuitl with an obsidian edge. Among the Inca, conquistadors applied the word to several weapons, above all the mace chambi. The chambi had a wooden handle ending in a heavy metal or stone head. A related weapon, the chaska chuqui ("star spear"), had a star-shaped point meant to break bones as easily as possible; for officers it was perhaps made of gold or silver. Smaller macanas were held in one hand, with the warrior carrying a shield alongside them, while larger ones required both hands. The usual length was around one meter. Early Spanish accounts describe Maya opponents with "two-handed swords of very hard wood" fitted with obsidian. Archaeology distinguishes two sizes of obsidian segments in such weapons, a smaller one of 8 to 10 mm and a larger one of 20 to 24 mm.