Another weapon–doubtless the most famous Aztec implement–was the Aztec
sword (macuahuitl; Spanish mancana). This seems to have been
invented by contemporaries of the Aztecs, or possibly the Aztecs themselves.
Two varieties existed: one handed and two handed These swords were bladed with six to eight
obsidian or (less often) flint pieces on both edges, and could be used in a
powerful downward slash, or backhand cut. Sixteenth- century drawings suggest
blading could be closely set (thus forming a virtually continuous cutting edge)
or discontinuous (causing a gapped, serrated edge). (Samuel White and Ray
Kerkhove, “The Aztecs,” in The Laws of Yesterday’s Wars: From Indigenous
Australians to the American Civil War, ed. Samuel White [International Humanitarian
Law Series 58; Leiden: Brill, 2022], 87)
