I dont care about how you pronounce Māori, the fact you've studied extensively about our culture and weapons of war, and also producing this clip to expose our culture to the public gains all the respect for me
i mean Europe is connected to the rest of human civilization and the Aztecs are more isolated so the technology they have available is very limited compared to the rest of humanity that is extremely connected and is able to develop new technologies thanks to researching other near by cultures. like the Chinese created gun powder and Europeans made it a weapon so for you to compare them its actually ignorant and racist but I'm sure you don't care lol
@@TheErnieBM Racism is the belief that you are superior to someone because of the color of their skin. Can you point out what is racist about the comment?
If there’s one thing I took away from this video, it’s that if something can be sharpened or used to bludgeon, chances are humans have probably used it as a weapon
The Aztec weapon translates to “hungry wood” Edit: I have been corrected by multiple people, apparently my source was wrong, glance through replies if you want different opinions
@@nelly5954 you know something even more creepy? That weapon wasn't design for kill people, just incapacitated them, so they can take the prisoners back to the main city and sacrifice them
Hey bro I’m from NZ and I’m part Māori . just a side note : the Tewhatewha was not just a weapon, it was more of a device used to communicate, commonly used to signal to your tribe if there was peace on a specific area of land or if that area / tribe was in war with another tribe. It could signal many other useful tactical informations depending on the direction of the face of the weapon, and if it has been struck into the land. We still train and learn about our weapons here in NZ but the Tewhatewha is not first choice for most Māori . Churr !
What examples can you give about how it was used to signal in that regard? That is absolutely fascinating. In fact, some indigenous cultures in north america had a similar tradition, not entirely exactly the same, but similar to an extent.
I love how humble this narrator is. I also really like the fact he has done his research, show his admiration and doesn't just make most of his information up, like pretty much every other channel on RU-vid does.
Never underestimate “the almighty stick.” It has settled many conflicts. (Edit) hey, just a quick comment. Thanks for all the thumbs up & to all my friends that never escalated our "swordfights"/stick fights into full battles. Who doesn't love weapons.?
I went to battle with a stick, and I lived to tell the tale! To be fair, it was a re-enactment battle. I portrayed a run-away slave who joined the "rebels". I opted for the stick because I am horribly bad at melee combat, so if I had wielded a metal weapon, I'd bring everyone around me in dire risk some nasty injuries. Bonus: it was a boiling hot summer, and all the gung-ho knights and men-at-arms wrapped in thick layers of padding, grueling heavy armour and wearing sturdy helmets were steam-cooked. I just ran about wearing little more than underwear and made sure to go down with the first blow, cheerfully pretending to be dead while watching the rest of the merry bunch succumb to the scorching sun.
Not trying to start an argument, but that makes no sense to simply dude to the fact that the carved head portion of the taiaha was rarely used as opposed to the carved flat side on the opposite end, more like a sword than a spear, if that were the case the feather collar would actually be Below the grip of the weapon, making it's intended purpose useless and unecssary
You forgot the leiomano from Polynesia. Similar to the macuahuiti, except using shark teeth instead of obsidian. Although the cutting edge on both of these weapons would often break (and could easily be replaced), they often left fragments in the wound, which back then would likely have been a more serious issue than a clean cut from steel.
Hey ***** I train with most Maori weapons (being Maori myself) and thought I could clear up a few things and also maybe make you a weapon or two to test. The taiaha's (staff weapon) head was used for stabbing and the feathers were used to keep the blood from the hands and making the grip slippery. The head was made and designed to represent and honour ancestors. We were once cannibals so feeding it blood was a must in battle. Often one hangs a ball of feathers to the end of the bladed edge and when wielding can be used to help distract opponents The tewhatewha on the other hand was mostly used by chiefs. The axe like blade was never used for striking but rather to add weight to the straight flat side. Most of the time thought it was used to signal commands to the other warriors. This weapon was designed to look like a man's shoulder blade and arm held out straight. I would like to make you two of our weapons, the Taiaha and a wahaika (fish mouth). I am not to sure on the shipping requirements for our native woods and I will have to look into this. I would like to use our native woods so if you were to do a review you can use something authentic. The wahaika is my favourite hand held club. These hooked weapons were used to disembowel opponents and a small notch below the hook was used to capture intestines so they can be dragged out easily. Not sure where to send these weapons but I will reply to one of your videos when I have finished carving the weapons. Keep up with the awesome videos. Cheers
***** Kia ora, nice to see a fellow enthusiast. Im currently working at a Kura in Raetihi. Im from Tuwharetoa, Te Atihaunui a Papārangi and Tainui. I'm currently working on the wahaika ATM and I am using black Maire for that. I would like to carve the Taiaha in Maire as well, but just saving up to buy a nice plank or two that would suit. It takes me some time to carve as I am busy with work and really want to make a nice piece for ***** . I have plenty of free time in the holidays and I am aiming to finish the carvings by January.
***** Hi, I was actually carving a basic club type weapon when I came across this video. I'm not trying to steal anyones thunder here but I'd enjoy carving you a couple of wooden weapons for your testing, to destruction if you wish. Just let me know what type you would be most interested in testing (edged, ball, etc) and I'd be happy to make one for you. Right now I'm using white oak, but I should be able to get my hands on other hardwoods too. All the best from England, Graeme.
Also, a very cool and very deadly weapon made without metal is the *Hawaiian Leiomano*. It's very similar to the Aztec Macuahuitl, but instead of stone, it has shark teeth which are somewhat loosely attached to the rest of the weapon with the intention that after the blow, the teeth stay lodged into your flesh.
you could cut off a horse's head with one. They were NOT just designed to incapacitate. That is a later assumption invented by people who did not see the macahuitle in action.Source: I spent a year researching aztec combat when I designed The Warchiefs expansion for Age of Empires III.
@@thekaxmax you don't think a horse's head and neck have bones in them? The Spanish also reported arms & legs lopped off by the macahuitls. I promise, my year of research exploded the false idea that these were only for "wounding" enemies.
I think I remember reading in a museum actual accounts from Spanish conquistadors of the Aztec club literally decapitating a horses out from underneath it taking the rider (and the unfortunate animal) to the ground. The clubs were also said to be able to penetrate the armor worn by the Spanish as well, what a ferocious weapon.
Actually that is totally truth, many persons have made macahuitl replicas, and a normal persona is capable to cut a pig or a Goat in half, so the fact that a well trained warrior was capable to decapitar a horse was true, but it was made more to make hard damage to the enemy and later sacrifices them, it was letal, but there no original macahuitl anymore all of them were destroyed and the only one left was burned in accident on spain, so the actual macahuitl are only replicas, but they are very well made
The only thing is that they dont exactly cut like that, the dont cut as normal knives and swords, they hit them and then make a movement down to let all the obsidian pieces cut, it can cut very well, but the fact that they actually decapitate a horse ir more like a big coincidence, a horse runing in a high speed impacting directly with the macahuitl can make them lose the head, But most of the times they just make Really Deep cuts to incapacitate the enemy, they orefer killing them in sacrifices or with Another distance weaponces like bows and spears
@@isitnotwrittenthat1680 exactly, the macahuitl it was a weapon to incapacitate, it can cut really good but the obsidian it wasn't capable of make any damage to the armor, that was the job from the Wood part, the wood used from the macahuitl it is a Really strong one, so when the obsidian break the wood still can make damage, so yeah, it can used as a sword/saw/axe and as a club
@@ronin466 However, while it may not be able to *cut* metal armor, it definitely could definitely dent it pretty badly or even make deep gouges in the metal that could potentially lead to it being inoperable. Really, the two reasons that the Spanish even managed to get a significant foothold in South America was because they got everyone to turn against the Aztecs and weaken themselves while the Spanish (like most Europeans at the time) had also been carrying some nasty diseases that would later make conquest easy.
hey I'm from New Zealand and I'm half Tongan and half Samoan and I would like to say that you missed one very deadly weapon, we call it the 'jandal' very painful
I used to make wooden swords when I was a kid, and yes...it definitely IS possible to get a very fine cutting edge. Mine were sharp enough to shave with. Kind of ironic, seeing as how I only started making wooden swords was because my parents wouldn't let me own a REAL one. I don't think they thought I'd figure out how to turn sticks into three-foot razor blades lol. So you can do it. But there are a couple tricks involved as far as the grain, heat treating and honing. 1) You obviously want the hardest wood possible. I made mine out of oak most of the time since it was the hardest wood available where I was. We just had a lot of oak trees where I lived, and I used to get cut-up logs and branches from my neighbor, who ran a tree service. So, I used oak because it was basically free...but I'm sure there are WAY better options. 2) You want the grain running at a shallow diagonal up and toward the front of the blade. I tested a bunch of orientations, and about a 20% diagonal seems to work best for holding an edge. Got theories about why that is, but I honestly don't know. A downward diagonal or vertical grain would usually be a little more durable, but an upward diagonal gave the sharpest edge. It might be different for different types of wood, but I'd expect not. 3) Heat-treat the edges of the blade before final sharpening, and burn the wood to get it as hard as possible. I used to use a piece of flat steel heated orange hot with a torch. Hold the bar at an angle to the blade interface, so it burns about a half inch back from the edge. It'll shrink the wood a little bit, so do it in three stages. Do both sides of the blade with the bar at dull red-hot, then bright red, then orange. If you go right to orange on one side, you'll make the edge crooked and maybe split the wood. (Note: You COULD actually burn the whole sword by tossing it into a fire for 30 seconds or so, or running a yellow-flame torch lightly over it. It'll polish a lot nicer that way...I just didn't usually bother because I hate polishing. Plus, it darkens the wood, and you don't see as much of the grain in the finished product. Fine if you like that look, I just preferred mine a little lighter and with a more noticeable grain.) 4) Sharpen the final edge with a bar of very tightly rolled, medium-weight stationary paper wrapped around a wooden dowel. It takes FOREVER. But really, you don't need to do it if you don't want to. Do the heat-treating right, and it'll leave a really sharp edge on its own. Easily sharp enough to cut yourself. This final sharpening part is just honing the razor. I'm sure there are better materials than paper on a dowel...a 5,000-grit emery board would probably work just as well. I just used the paper because it's what I had on hand when I started, and I found it to work well enough. 5) Put a light coat of thin spray-poly on the sword to protect it. Try not to get it right on the blade edge, because the poly WILL dull it. You might want to re-hone the blade afterward. It'll need periodic re-honing...about once every six months or so, even if it's just hanging on a wall. Have fun...be careful :)
I have done the same, but never a sword, the closest I ever got where spears with bladed tips maybe 10" long. I had best results with maple. I also used cigarette lighters or small fires instead of a torch.
What most people don't realize is the momentum behind a dull blade. It's the concept behind a broadsword which cuts logs and limbs just fine even completely dulled due to it's weight and the small surface area that weight is applied to.
What most people don't realize is the momentum behind a dull blade. It's the concept behind a broadsword which cuts logs and limbs just fine even completely dulled due to it's weight and the small surface area that weight is applied to.
You briefly mentioned indigenous Australians - their skill with clubs, boomerangs and 8 foot-long spears projected using spear-throwers is almost incredible, and there is much variation among their weapons and materials used, as would be expected in a Continent larger than Europe. You could easily do an extended video on this topic !!
The Aztec Macuahuitl was a very deadly weapon. Accounts by Bernal Diaz a soldier who was with Cortez mentioned how sharp they were and that an Aztec Warrior wielding a two handed version almost decapitated a horse with one.
@@bayupatten4777 I do not know about an actual internet link to his account. You may have to go Old Fashion and read the book The Conquest of New Spain as told by Bernal Diaz.
Lot of people really underestimate how creative and ingenious ancient people are. The designs are pretty intricately made, and functional, not just in weapons, and everyday tools. In fact given they have practically have nothing to work with, no references aside from oral information transfer for generations. Today, we are what we are now because all the piled up knowledge from centuries of records, discoveries and advancement. Also with international language, we can easily exchange information to anyone, anywhere. Our ancestors back then dont even have 000.1% of convenience of today, yet these tools and weapons are just so useful and relatively effective. If you watch the ancient technology channel, we can see that our amcestor are just as smart, or even smarter than us because they constantly need to wrack their brain to survive.
robert The isolation was a good factor for creativity, on the long run, we will all have the same references and i won't be surprised that in a century, people will be less creative than today.
@@glowhoo9226 Me neither. That's why I asked whom the OP thinks underrates it? You don't even have to study the Aztecs to be able to look at something and know someone could mess you up real bad with it.
I made one from iron wood from west Virginia and large scales from a alligator gar. The scales stick out over an inch and are 3/16 of a inch at the thickest part ( middle). They are as hard as shark teeth sharp as hell .
...Maybe playing devil's advocate here but I think OP may have meant "underrated" more in the colloquial sense as in lesser known/ recognized, "popularly" regarded sense. At least more so than people aware of, interested in, let alone studied, anything where it would be relevant. ...That being said, as much as I detest the way it's abused these days... Ffs I'm actually on the spectrum and yet even I think with the exception of Ron's that these replies are painfully autistic. Guys, he wasn't... Saying... Whatever the fuck you think he meant by it.. Ugh.. 🤦♂️🙄
As a Mexican, I'm amazed to see you've a video that includes a macuahuitl (just call it ‘macana’, most in Mexico call it that way). It's a shame no-one seems to be interested in creating replicas
@@Sr_ECO Obsidian is the cheapest knapping stone you can buy online, the issue is nobody wants to make 100s of the same liminar blades all day, its super repetitive versus other types of knapping
Fun fact, the feather near the top of the war staff is not there to distract opponents. Instead, it's purpose is to prevent blood from coming down to the actual grip, causing it to become slippery.
@@rommdan2716 I once saw an article about some kind of rifle or musket made of wood or horn from somewhere in southeast Asia, I can't find the article though.
@@cappierising1774 i mean, there are some woods that are naturally resistant to termites, and some are located in that area (idk, did a quick google search, correct me if i'm wrong)
Your weapon is an early version of a sword with an unscrewable pommel , correct ? If that is the case , then the concept of ending someone rightly might be older than we thought.
When I was 12 I was at a used book store with 10 bucks burning through my pockets! I normally would have gotten 2-3 scifi or fantasy books but I found a reference book of weapons through the ages. The first section had those wooden clubs, flint knives, wood/ sharks teeth club/swords and others. I fell in love with all of them. I tried to make a few or the next few years with what little info I could find on their making, this was before the internet. I managed to make 2 swordclubs using oak and obsidian chips for the blade edge. I decorated them as best I could in patterns from pacific islanders. They were cool but sing oak was my downfall cause they both split pretty bad after a few month. The wood had dried out and made it brittle. Still love the styles. Also I am sure you know about this but there is a cool little club that was made by people indiginous to Alaska. It is called an Usic and is made from a bone from a walrus. Those are pretty cool too!
@@WanderingMiqo Of course there's remnants of the empire but once the empire ceased to exist they can't be called Aztecs, its like saying today's Italians are Romans, once the empire is gone the title is gone!
@@user-lf3wr8rh7r The term Aztec isnt what they called themselves, they reffered to themselves as the Mexica and theres plenty of nahuatl speaking Mexica people living in mexico
Dustin Wilson it's actually been proven you can chip it it's a very hard process and you're only going to get that result one time out of fifty million tries but it is possible and it's reasons like that why recently doctors are using obsidian blades for scalpels
Jeffrey314159 yeah a lot of people leave that's what the Aztecs used to cut out hearts But for a long time in modern times scalpels were made of some kind of metal I believe it's Steel but now some are making the switch to obsidian because it's naturally Sharper
You got my respect for actually having knowledge of flintknapping. So many people I see talking about it have no idea what goes into it, or just anything about it. Great to see someone talking about historical weapons who actually has tried it.
+Bain Malum Uhh, nope? Wood, definitely wood. Dark, mostly black wood. Dense, and shiny when polished. When properly worked it has a feel not unlike stone's. I think it has been heavily overextracted because of its unique look, so now its fairly rare even in their native environment.
Ok I just looked it up. Ebony from TES series actually has no relation to the ebony real life. In the game it is actually a volcanic stone similar to *obsidian. This is a relief. Good to know my dragonborn isn't wearing suits made of wood...
Bain Malum Way to pick the definition that suits you mate. Etimology, however, has a way of showing whats the origin and original meaning. Ebony means black because its the color of the ebony wood. Just like Ivory means a shade of white cause its the color of elephant tusks. Ebony and Ivory, you know, like piano keys.
+PopTartNeko Shame on you!! :o Yeah it's a video game thing, but it's also an exotic hardwood that is really gorgeous. It would make a great material for mask or ornamental armor, but it's really really dense and tough
Thank you for branching out and showing other weapons other than swords, I really like the content you put out and this was especially investing. Just thanks for all the good work, and I hope your back is doing better I've been praying for you.
The curious thing about maquahuitls is that Mexican (aztec) warriors knew the obsidian razors were gonnna fall sometime, so they carried remplacements and a type of natural glue to stick them in and keep fighting, but even if they somehow were left without the razors it was still used as a club and it was really hard
Ey, the dagger probably wasn't just for killing people. The blade looks good for skinning, and thus a practical hunting tool. And just for eating, cut your meat into smaller slices before you eat. Great cutlery. Of course you wouldn't kill people and eat with the same one. Unless you were a cannibal.....
+Klomster Well, maybe. Those tools must've been quite time intensive to make. Plus you need apropiate stone, wich you probably didnt carry around to fshion new tools cause of the weight. I dont think youd have more than one knife on you, and if you need to defend yourself with your knife, well... Anyway, there are plenty of arguments for not using them for both tasks, starting with the religious significance of death and human blood, and ending with how inapropiate a short dagger is as a weapon when compared to, say, a long sturdy stick, wich is far easier to get and replace. Plus i'd bet that those daggers would tend to break often in the chaos of combat and losing such an important tool would leave you crippled. You wouldnt want to lose your knife as a hunter gatherer.
svankensen I agree, sure, the stone knife was probably a very important item, and you would not want to swing it about for no reason. It is a cared for important item. And can be used to fashion a good sturdy wooden stick to bash heads in. And for hunting, said large club, bow and arrow, perhaps with stone head. (Far easier to make than an entire dagger.) and the knife for cutting the kill.
The Germanics also used simplistic looking wooden clubs against the Romans, and the Romans also thought the wooden material was inferior until someone got bludgeoned and thus the lesson was too late to be learned.
6:13 as an expert of the Macuahuitl, the sword doesn’t cut so well when you do downward swinging as they might get stuck, or chip off in what you are hitting. This is because the amount of downward force can easily crush the obsidian blades compared to horizontally swinging. Both of these techniques do not work so well, if you want to cut you must drag the blade on the surface of what you are cutting, the Aztecs did this, this would cause the enemy to possibly be in a state of agony, as well as arteries being sliced through.
There was a story from a Spanish Conquistador who was involved in the Mesoamerican conflicts with the Aztecs. He said that an Aztec wielding a Macuahitl cut through an entire spaniard and his horse, decapitating both, with one swing. Its legitimacy is obviously questionable, but that Sword can cut like no other.
VintageLJ I can certainly beleive it would kill a man in one swing and a horse, but not both at the same time and not convinced it would be effective against steel armour. The Macuahitl is deffinately a formidible weapon that could cause horrendous damage to a human body, but they were probably reletively rare, given the Aztec emphasis on capturing enemies alive for human sacrifice and I'm sure the conquistadors played it up, to make themselves sound better for having faced Aztecs wielding such weapons.
weldonwin he probably described the "assasins creed style", dismounting swing, he exagerated how masterfully he stroke both horse and raider probably.Aztecs were soldiers, it's expected they would adapt.History would have been REALLY diferent shouldnt the american native empires like the incas and aztecs be so suceptible to european deceases, in fact, it's said the father of the last inca emperor died to smallpox brought all the way from panama, before a conquistador ever made plans of stepping on Peru.
Sword Smith : "I spent 13 years by my father's side learning to work raw iron into a perfectly balanced, mirror polished, meter long, double edged razor blade of doom." Cave Man: "Yea, but can you FLINT NAP?" Sword Smith: *walks off, head hung in shame*
Very late stuff but the feather thing on Chinese spears was there to help the users know how deep they should stab into the enemy bodies, so they wouldn't stab too deep to pull out efficiently.
Maori (pronounced like the word mouldy) weapons were extremely effective but they were also unique and skillfully used. I'm sure there is plenty of video of it out there. The Taiaha for instance where you thought the feathers were for distraction is actually a club with a point. The pointy end is the distracting bit because you don't want to get stabbed and then suddenly the Taiaha is flipped in a lunge and you get smacked in the head by the other end. The Mere or Patu which was usually made from Paunamu (Greenstone/Jade). It is incredibly hard and could take many years and a lot of skill to make but was also nearly indestructible when finished. Maori used sand and water to wear in down and apparently viens with sand and water to cut it. They would also try to break and chip it into a rough shape but because it was so much harder than other substances this was very difficult and you risked ruining it before you started. Maori expressed themselves artistically by elaborately decorating tools and weapons to an incredible degree making them into works of art while still retaining the original form of the tool or weapon.
Jimi is using a slang version of the proper pronunciation. It's what we say when we're "with the homies." He does say it correctly in a few of his videos when he's being serious but most of the time he's using our casual pronunciation of the word.
A good point, but often Shillelagh were hollowed out at the 'club' end and filled with molten lead, thus requiring metal - at which point they would become known as (courtesy of our friends at wikipedia) a 'loaded stick' - so although this weighting process wasn't done in all cases, I'd say it'd be unfair (or at least inaccurate) to describe them as being a weapon without metal (just to be pedantic).
Balls to you , have you ever made a root ball whacking stick they work just fine without lead. Such weapons would have been used for thousands of years before humans started to use lead . PS if the faux american irish loaded a shillelagh with lead, hope they get legal shit done to em!. As for you and ya expert decision to class a shillelagh as a none wooden weapon fool on!
Given the exacting nature of obsidian or flint knapping, I wouldn't say that it's 'relatively easy' to make a macuahuitl, as compared to a metal sword. It takes no mean skill to manage and, especially when talking about repair, it must be incredibly difficult to create pieces that are usable in an existing weapon. We aren't talking about machine made uniformity here. The macuahuitl was also an item that came up in the discussion of what a modern sidearm sword might look like, if we had a weapon bearing culture today, on Matt's feed. A carbon fibre core with ceramic inserts was one of the suggestions.
I think that stone napping would not be an easy art but a common one with stone aged technology. it would be necessary to know how to shape stone for functional use and understand the qualities that work best for the jobs that need to be done.
Sean Rea Societies, even Stone Age ones, tend to breed specialization. Not everyone can develop every skill, to a fully functional degree. One might be able to fashion a usable knife or spearhead but not a piece for a macuahuitl edge, any more than everyone could make a good bow. And 'good', or at least 'good enough' would be the measure. Those with the best gear would tend to be the most successful, all other factors even. I can make a passable bow. I can fletch arrows. If my life depended upon it and I had the means, you can bet your ass that I'd be buying the product of someone with more skill than myself.
morallyambiguousnet It would still be easier to fix, just go to the guy who makes the sharp bits, buy however many you need (maybe spares if the looting was particularly good) and attach them yourself. as opposed to a sword where even minor damage requires specialist attention
morallyambiguousnet I didn't mean to say that it's easy, just less time consuming than mining iron ore, smelting it, processing it into steel, forging and tempering a blade, assembling it, etc.
***** That's why I find the topic so interesting, since you'd have to be pretty committed to go searching for iron/metal rich dirt, either by mining or smelting a bunch of different soils. Of course there's no need for that [today], as "trash" can be found in nearly every part of the globe, as evidenced by survival shows, where the iron/metal is already mined and processed. Regardless, it is a very interesting topic.
My dad got me into arrowhead hunting as a small child and I've been into it for many decades since and I've always been fond of the stone tools and the ingenious people that made them. I've seen several Native American war clubs and only a fool would doubt there effectiveness. I've seen clubs that were fashioned out of old flintlock rifle stocks that were very deadly. Definitely necessity is the mother of invention and mankind has created some very interesting weapons and tools throughout the centuries and they're all very fascinating to say the least. Thank you for your hard work and research in making this video for us. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I look forward to watching more. Cheers!
2:24 😂😂😂 I'm fighting to the death but " ohh frills " Its wasn't for distraction. It was to help keep the blood from dripping down to the point of the shaft that you hold.
I'm sure you won't see this, but this is by far the most fascinating video not only of yours, but on YT in general. Please make another video on this subject and expand on the topic! Many thanks mate.
Polynesian weapons aside, I would scarcely want one of those guys to hit me with a pillow, much less a hard wood stave; those guys are solid bone and muscle
You realise the traditional Samoan/Polynesian pillow was a curved piece of hard wood that cradled your neck so your spine would stay aligned while you slept
@@usaisthebestiockdownpoiice816 There is no logic in what you just said. "They evolved from savages" Yes like all 'modern' humans have, then you add "They're different from us humans.". Not only are you stating we are not the same species as them but we have evolved from a completely separate evolutionary chain.
Interesting. I'm guessing there was a relative lack of metal ores in these areas so using other materials was necessary. I notice the warriors tend to have a lot of skin exposed. Isn't that pretty unwise? Surely some covering would have helped. Maybe a video about non metal armour would be interesting.
Well the reason alot of the warriors who utilize these weapons, don't wear alot of clothing is, as far is i know, becasue of the fact that they live in very hot areas.
Well how I see it, it wasn't for the comfort of these warriors. Native warriors have been know to be extremely agile so covering up would reduce their maneuverability, and make it easier in fact to be hit.
Getting metal ore is often not the problem, the problem is that you need extreme heat to smelt and craft it which needs certain technologys and most important a rich fuel source like stone coal which is not often that easy to get in a large enough quantity
The short round jade “club” was tested against a large Bowie styled knife in cutting , and overall strength and the jade club cut almost as well when it came to meat but at the end of the test it cut /snapped the steel knife in half it was impressive, another thing to remember about tribal and islander weapons, I served in the us army when I was deployed to Panama we were taught by spec.ops instructors that any biological wound that breaks the skin is almost guaranteed to become infected I saw many examples of this when I was there , I have to admit that being injured by weapons that are non-metal and non- stone scare the crap out of me ....
Maori here loved the video. Patu,mere(war clubs)tewhatewha(commanding staff)taiaha(staff spear),kohata(sling stick not mentioned much) koikoi(ice pick pointed wood secondary weapon and good for throwing) Tena koutou
War is fucking beautiful. As a human you should know that. Many technologies wouldnt exist without it. War is how human culture developed, how human technology advanced, and how the idea of humanity was born. We would not have made it far as a species if we weren't always trying to one-up the guy with the pointiest stick.
King of Midgard No, there is nothing beautiful about war at all. Technological advance is not dependent on warfare, it's just one of the areas where progress is made. Your enthusiasm about organized mass slaughter is disturbing.
But it is, and if you look around you, you can see hundreds of things helped brough to use today by warfare. Warfare is the truest depiction of human strength, cunning, and ingenuity. It may be sickening to know people lost their lives over stupid disputes, but these wars serve a purpose to the future. Lne must learn to accept all that is ugly in life, and not condemn it. If we did away with politics due to political corruption, we'd have no societal voice or leadership. If we did away with food processing because they kill animals and process them, thousands would die. And if we did away with war, then we would likely stop advancing in important technological fields, which though developed for wartime, are then converted to peacetime use. War is not even just man vs man, but we wage war against nature, and death itself. We fight the hardships of the world, and we fight to live past our natural cycles. We wage wars over petty arguments, but they have proven to be one of humanities greatest tools, for both good and evil. If you wish to look at me as deranged for understanding and accepting the importance that war has played in human development and will play in the future, then that's fine. As my grandfather used to say: the blind condemn the deaf, the mute condemn the weak, and the ignorant know only bliss til their head hits the chopping block.
Technological progress simply requires a goal. War provides that with a scary time limit to push everything along nicely, but it is far from the only way to advance. The space race is a good example of technological progress through seeking a goal, countless things were developed as a result of man's endeavour to explore space.
***** War... war never changes. The war is made from fear and anger, war is made from the worst things. The war is just the last step in a way of hatred. Its just salvation of hatred between two sides... but... that way is a circle.
Now this was an interesting video. I have personaly been seeking information on this very subject, but found relatively little beyond standard axes and daggers of stone. Sure the aztec sword, and the shark-tooth-leather version from Hawaii (I think) appeared as well in my research, but there must be so much more. I realy hope you will expand on this.
Mexican mom's slippers are probably the most dangerous melee weapons in the universe This comment section got me thinking that momma's whoop ass is a key to end racism and fascism in general
And an Italian mom's wooden kitchen implements...or spare shoes...or....well, whatever is in arm's reach to smack you with, lol. Glad to see mom violence is a cross cultural phenomenon xD
Honestly, wooden weapons (including with stone components) are nothing short of incredible. The sheer ingenuity when it comes to warcraft in places where metal wasn't abundant is amazing and has led to incredibly beautifully designed weapons which stand in stark contrast to the more spartan, practical metal weapons. The first time I saw some Polynesian weapons on display I was just shocked by the fact these things aren't more well-known.
A history professor once told me that the macahuitl obsidian blades were the perfect weapon choice because whenever they shattered, the piece that was still attached to the wooden core could cut as well as the full sized new blade because the way they shattered. The pieces of obsidian were very wide in order to give many "lifes" to the blades. Also you can pronounce it like it was written like "macawitl" in English with the i sounding like in the word "flip". There's some debate about how the "tl" should be pronounced like because nahuatl speaking people don't do it the way we do. But if you just pronounce one of the two letters (the "t" or the "l") but not both it's correct enough for most people.
I have a rare banded Clovis point that's 3 inches and it has been worked down alot I think when it was full it was around 6 inches cause it's right at the fluke now and can't be worked down anymore.
another cool fact about the macahuitl is that if the blades shattered inside of their target flesh the fragments will have been also extremly sharpen and will keep cutting the person from the inside as long the person move. this is why obsidian arrows were a good choice by the Aztecs.
Ahhh the Aztec Macuahuitl (pronounced ma-ka-wee-toll from some sources I've looked up). That obsidian bladed club was so sharp that it could decapitate a man in one blow, and was known to be able to decapitate a horse. These accounts were from Spanish conquistadors, who supposedly witnessed these war clubs in action.
Jyrral Von Ueberwald Well, technically the diseases they brought with them did most of the work. I'm not saying Cortez did not kick any ass back then with his more advanced warfare tactics and weapons, but the diseases did the heavy lifting.
There's a comparative demonstration between a macuahuitl (and several other Aztec weapons) and steel swords used by the Spanish at the time, here on RU-vid. The macuahuitl actually performed better. While the sword could almost completely impale a pig carcass, the macuahuitl ripped a massive 6-8 inch deep gash right through it. I could hardy believe how much damage that thing could do.
Jyrral Von Ueberwald A while ago I read "The Conquest of New Spain" by Bernal Diaz. Its an eyewitness account of the campaigns of Cortez written by one of the actual conquistadors that accompanied him. The contemporary view is that Cortez massacred the Aztecs and destroyed their civilization. In reality, at the height of his strength Cortez only commanded around 500 Spaniards. The few horses they had died quickly when the natives overcame their fear of them; their armour was mostly cotton pads (steel would have roasted them in the heat) and the one canon they brought was almost useless in the rough terrain. The Aztecs, by contrast, were used to the terrain and could field armies in the hundreds of thousands. Even with steel and gunpowder, Cortez would never have achieved the successes he did had he not exploited local rivalries and built alliances with tribes hostile to Tenochtitlan. Ultimately, 73fuma is correct, it was the diseases Europeans introduced that brought down the civilizations of the New World.
It isn't the sword but the man who wields it. The bulk of the Spanish forces under Cortez were rodeleros--a type of lightly armored sword-and-buckler man schooled in martial arts of his day and tempered by generations of genocidal war. While the macuahuitl armed warriors were ferocious, they don't appear to have been schooled in the kind of advanced methods the Spanish would have known. So swinging any kind of weapon against a Spanish swordsman would have been pretty much suicide. While the Aztecs could be brutal as well, war was as much ceremony as combat. For the Spanish war meant doing whatever it took to win. So they'd take a god king hostage, gut all the leaders and steal whatever they wanted. The locals were a bit shell-shocked and by the time they recovered the Spanish had replaced the old elites and controlled all the systems of government.
My great grandfather collected native american spear and arrowheads that he found while working his farm, and my father inherited 1/3 of them. The variety, even within what you can find on an area the size of a farm, is insane. There are small, simple arrowheads, larger, more well shaped ones, spearheads (might be knives, I'm not an expert) a good 15-20 cm long, a few that start off wide but quickly taper down to a thin rodlike blade (maybe they were for fishing? It is near a river). It's really impressive and you can tell that they had different designs for different uses, rather than one or two catch-all designs. They are also all at least a few hundred years old (found in an area that was colonized by white americans in the 1800s, and found like 70 years ago) and are in remarkably good condition, probably better than any metal that is buried in the ground for that long. They might be relatively brittle compared to metal, but they are also less vulnerable to things like water and oxidation.
1:03 the shape could also come from it doubling as an oar. Travel by boat was a big part of Polynesian life, so I could understand the value of a multi-purpose battle-paddle. Admittedly this is just some personal speculation with very little academic clout to back it up, but I hope it does add something to the discourse. Also many of the stories I've heard about the Taiaha might be self-promotional folklore and hearsay but I have a ton of respect for its design, an effective and efficient piece of work!
I live in fiji and own several of those clubs as decorative pieces with intricate carving but they are deadly, the totokia for example would easily cause a deep puncture would in the skull, also the hooks in flat clubs are for pinning people on the ground or twisting and breaking necks.
+Skallagrim As for the macuahuitl you can use google translate and hear it IN FRENCH is the closest it gets to nahuatl. (If you are really interested in pronouncing the weapon's name correctly, which you should)
You say that you can't imagine an experienced fighter being distracted, but there were enough inexperienced fighters on a given battlefield that such an advantage would be helpful.
The "collar" on a Taiaha was both for looks and for distraction (maneuvers in the technique are designed to remove fluid from the Taiaha), usually made from Kaka feathers and Kuri hair, although some special Taiaha had tassles made from Kuri skin as in the one named Taiaha Kura. The Arero is used for close engagements used similarly to a pommel, the Upoko is basically the handle and the Tinana is like a long blade. All parts have a technique for parrying while the Arero can be used for stabbing and the Tinana/Ate is used for striking. When used correctly, skilled warriors could remove the top part of their opponents skull. It takes years to master and training started during childhood.
please do make more videos about this the creativity like you said is fascinating but many are forgotten or never brought up and its a real shame for all the impressive designs
Would love an hour+ long video abour this topic!!! 2 weeks a was walking at the notherngermany baltic coast, i collected flint again and started smacking (as i do since being 6-7 years old!) ! Its astouding to see these daggers such a difficult craftmann ship! It is so difficult to make the flint do what you want! Btw great content thanks for it!!!
Something I always like was, much like the obsidian Aztec club. the trend of the Hawaiians, Polynesians, and the Maori of arranging shark teeth on a wooden paddle/club/axe. Made for some scary looking weapons.
Jyrral Von Ueberwald Hey that is.... a pretty accurate statement actually. You have to call a society that greets chiefs of other tribes coming in for peaceful delegation by throwing a spear at him, thereby making him prove his might by knocking it aside or catching it crazy. Oh, and you have to call a society crazy where spear catching is a common martial art form and come on, I shouldn't have to elaborate any more there. However, you have to admire a society that spear catching is a common practice.
Then also dress up in cool Aztec war attire,find a tall building and then scream "THE SUN GOD DEMANDS SACRIFICE!LET THE BLOOD FLOW THROUGH THE TEMPLE CHANNELS! ALL OF YOU SHALL PLEASE HIS DEMANDS!" And then run down and start wacking zombies left and right.
It really wouldn't. The macuahuitls were rather fragile and the obsidian blade shards shattered upon impact to anything remotely hard, for example stone or bone. Furthermore, they were attached to the blade with pressure and adhesives. The wooden frame gets damaged rather easily and requires continuous maintenance. This can only be applied in situations where the user has easy access to processed obsidian, wood, woodworking tools and adhesives. Not quite the common situation in classical views of apocalypse. Get a stainless steel hammer with a blunt spike. Won't rust, is remarkably durable, infinite usefulness as a tool, can be handled without a risk of wounding the user and easy to apply as an effective weapon.
the matahuitle was effective to smash bodies, but also because the obsidian blades would shatter and would get embedded in the oponents flesh infecting them and later killing them if they would survive the strike. in the case of zombies I thing it could onle smash, but the embedding infection would have no use
As others have explained to you it wouldn't be effective in a zombie apocalypse situation so I won't touch on that. However I did research on the Nahuatl people and those blades were made so that shards would break off an get lodged in the bodies of your opponent
hatz4me No need to specifically make them break. In fact, that was counterproductive to the user. The shattering was caused by the ridiculous brittleness of the obsidian.
