Ichcahuipilli - Mesoamerican Armor
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ธ.ค. 2024
- Edit: I am of Tlaxcalteca descent and my ancestors used this armor and weapon.
I ordered this indigenous armor from a talented artisan, Arsenio Sotelo Rincon! It was worth every penny. Excellent and badass.
/ arsenio.sotelorincon
The native Mexican peoples were so advanced and amazing for their crafts. Weapons sharper than steel, and salt crystal armor? Floating gardens, irrigation systems and knowledge of medicine.
West Africans wore similar armor.
the spaniards also started using it after they came to Mexico, because it was effective and also better for humid hot climates and lighter than the Spanish armor
The armor was so good that the Spaniards actually ditched their own metal armor for this.
Is it not the same as a gambeson?
The Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, Olmecs, Toltecs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Yaquis, Anasazi also known as Pueblos, Cahokians, And Iroquois some of the most amazing Amerindian societies
Can you believe these were better at stopping obsidian arrows than chainmail?
nah prob it was the case when facing an enemy with no steel you'd prefer a lighter weight.... why wear chain mail if your enemy only has wood and obsidian
if you're dressed in chainmail, you have a layer of this underneath anyway, not really a valid comparison
@@DarkShroom chainmail is actually bad against arrows, the Spanish would actually be killed by obsidian arrows while wearing chainmail.
The Ichcahuipilli on the other hand was strong enough to resist bullets.
@TerranCrusader I'm basing this off of actual Spanish testimony, not some drug hallucinations like you.
@TerranCrusader you're thinking of modern bullets. Of course it won't stop bullets as you know them. However Trollerjak is actually referring to musket balls, which acounts do say that this armour was effective against (not 100% but enough to be a problem). Same for swords and spears, not 100% of the time but enough to be a problem.
I don’t know about arrows but I heard the darts fired from a Atlatl could pierce chainmail bag in a test against Spanish plate armor it couldn’t pierce but it did have enough to push back so it would hurt but not pierce.
I was curious about this armor and looked up some peer reviewed historical documents about the Aztec armor specifically (already knew the obsidian weapons were like literal light-sabers in sharpness.). I was excited to learn the armor was a trade-up for spanish who wanted the lightweight armor that was more effective than their own armor. I read that this was due to the special process which their armor goes through. A salty brine is used to soak the armor and then let dry in the shade. This to me was a genius way of crafting a really durable like ... cyrstal chainmail on some kind of molecular level. I don't quite know how to describe it but I am so impressed by this.
The metal armour was more effective, but the native armour was good enough for the job + it was much lighter and not as hot in the Mexican sun.
@@robokill387 the metal armor it turns out was not as effective as I wrote above.
@@DuyuCoyotenothing the Aztecs had would pierce plate armor, even though obsidian can be sharper than steel it wouldn’t cut through solid plate. Aztec armor was good enough to protect against anything the Spanish encountered but far less cumbersome than plate. Essentially plate armor was overkill protection, but not good to wear if you’re trekking through miles of dense forest. I also imagine that the humidity made maintenance of plate armor less than ideal.
@@mechadonia Lets bring up even more details. Fans of plate armor seem to think there are no weaknesses to them and even think muskets and metal armors were the key to Desoto's conquest. These beliefs aren't correct. Plate armor can Dent, rivets can fail, straps can easily break and of course the hands, back of the legs, visor and armpits are unarmored weak points. A chestpiece and helmet are more likely the only bits you could hope to have which means you have more of yourself unarmored. The rarity and difficulty to make these plate armors puts them in a place of impracticality especially if you are conquestadoring around Tenochtitlan. it was advanced indigenous weapons and armor made from practical ingredients in their area that won spanish victory. Why? Desoto gathered other indigenous groups to fight for him. If it were not for this fact Desoto would have met his fate sooner for in the very near future Chickasaw would find him, drag him off his saddle and kill him. No, firearms and plate armor did not stop the Chickasaw who also did not have Aztec weapons and armor either! The truth about metal armor specifically is that it was heavy, cumbersome, expensive, rare, had weak points in several area's, limited movement and speed. It's better to see plate armor as just impractical and detrimental: a fantasy for the rich.
@@DuyuCoyote While several points in your commentary are accurate, there are some conclusions you've drawn that I would approach differently. Allow me to address the main points you raised if thats ok with you!
1. "Plate armor is not invincible. It can dent and be damaged. Rivets can fail, and straps can break. There are unarmored weak points like the hands, back of the legs, visor, and armpits."
Although your statement is technically correct, it does not imply that plate armor was ineffective. If a blow was powerful enough to dent the armor, the resulting dent was likely a minor concern compared to the overall impact of the strike. Dents in plate armor from melee weapons of the time would have been exceedingly rare, as it would require a very heavy steel mace or war hammer to achieve such damage. Given that the Aztecs wielded weapons such as wooden swords embedded with obsidian (macuahuitl), spears, and clubs, it is highly improbable that they could dent steel plate armor. The wooden components of these weapons would have likely failed before causing any significant damage to the steel. Moreover, rivets in European plate armor did not typically fail against steel weapons, so it is unlikely that wooden weapons would have been more effective. Although straps could potentially break, this would more likely result from wear and tear over time rather than from direct combat. These straps were positioned in less exposed areas of the armor, making them difficult to target during battle. The most effective means of overcoming plate armor in hand-to-hand combat was to exploit the unprotected areas you mentioned. However, those same vulnerabilities existed in Aztec armor, which also left the exact areas of the body you mentioned, unprotected.
2. "Plate armor is impractical: It is rare and difficult to make. It is not suitable for conquering in places like Tenochtitlan."
This point is valid, I agree with your assessment. Plate armor was indeed rare in the Americas, with the Spanish relying solely on what they brought with them. Furthermore, it was heavy and cumbersome, and the humid climate of Central America likely exacerbated the difficulties of maintaining steel armor. Plate armor was not the most practical choice for the environment, especially considering its restrictiveness compared to the lighter, more breathable armor used by the Aztecs.
3. "Indigenous weapons and armor were more effective: They were made from practical materials found in the area. They were used by the Spanish in their victory."
While it is true that the Spanish adopted indigenous weapons and armor, this was not necessarily because they were superior or more advanced. Rather, these materials were more readily available. Forging steel weapons during the campaign was not feasible, whereas wood and obsidian were abundant, and local craftsmen were skilled in producing these weapons efficiently. Additionally, the indigenous armies that assisted the Spanish were far more accustomed to using these wooden weapons, and they could wield them with great effectiveness. The Spanish did not arm their forces with indigenous weapons because they were inherently superior, but because they were the most accessible and practical option given the circumstances.
Overall you're right that plate armor was not the most practical choice for the Spanish during their campaign against the Aztecs. It was cumbersome in the humid environment, expensive, less accessible, and difficult to repair if damaged. But, in terms of protection, plate armor was extremely effective and the pinnacle of armor technology at the time. In Europe, knights that wore full-body articulated plate armor were nearly impossible to kill unless the attacker could exploit the few gaps in the armor, such as the eye slits or groin inner thigh area. Even contemporary firearms struggled to reliably penetrate plate armor until much later. The Spanish likely chose to use Aztec armor not because it offered superior protection, but because it was more available, comfortable, and adequate given the weapons they were facing. Steel plate armor, while offering excellent protection, would have been overkill in the context of the Aztec conquest, where lighter and more practical armor sufficed.
Seems that many different peoples around the world developed gambeson-type armors independently, we have the European gambeson, the West African Lifidi quilted armor, the Mesoamerican Ichcahuipilli, and last but not least the South Chinese and SE Asian paper and rattan armors.
The blades on macuahuitl would have been flaked from cores so they would have all been flat or mostly flat. Spikes like that would be impossible afaik. Would these have been made with sleeves or as onesies that cover the whole body?
All of the weapons, uniforms, and armor used by the Mexikans predate them and Nawas in general.
Do you have a source for that? That is extremely interesting!
@@indigenouspodcast2257 I don't think you'll find a source saying directly what I said, it's more like an obvious thing one knows with a lil' bit of knowledge of the giant cultural group that the Mexikans or the Nawa language group were a small part of. As is said by David Charles Wright-Carr, culture in those days transcended linguistic barriers, and that a language group was not necessarily a culture, for many different language groups across central mesoamerica shared a common culture, same architecture, concepts, weapons, clothing, sciences, agricultural practices, education systems, calendars, holidays, celebrations, rituals & ceremonies, recording information in books, astronomy, mathematics. Mexiko's landmass was only founded in the 1300s. Nawas are foreigners to the central valley around Lake Texkoko, and they were still well aware of this after having coexisted with Oto-Pamean Mesoamericans for around 1,000 years. Before they came to those lands that they occupied at the time Kortes arrived to Tenočtitlan, central mesoamerican civilization was well established. Because the Mexikans (a Nawa people) were the big chingones at the time Ernan Kortes arrived to the heart of the triple alliance empire, They were looked to by the Spanish colonists as the most important language group and the authority on central mesoamerican culture. Because of their reputation in early colonial times, today in modern academia Nawas are still put on a pedestal and seen like the inventors of general central mesoamerican culture, while ignoring the local language groups of those areas and not giving them any credit. Today we even call the cuisine "Mexikan" food as if our cuisine didn't exist until Mexiko was established in the 1300s. Nawatł' is said to have separated and begun to form around the time of the collapse of Teotiwakan, an ancient city that many of the ancestors of the neglected language groups living in those areas today, built. Because the Spanish looked to Nawas as the leading language group, most of the written material regarding central mesoamerican culture was attained from surviving Nawa elites and recorded in Nawatł'. This results in us believing that they arrived from the west and gave us civilization in central mesoamerica. We need to be reminded that the non-Nawa language groups that coexisted with them in central mesoamerica in 1519, have more ancient ancestral ties to this culture and have had it long before Nawas arrived and were absorbed into the area and had embraced this culture. I just research in my free time, but if you'd like to hear an actual scholar discuss the whole thing about cultural elements non-Nawas shared with Nawas, that predate their arrival, youtube this: "La escritura pictórica en el códice de huichapan". It is very much worth learning Nawatł' to study and translate early colonial sources; studying whatever surviving cultural material left by non-nawas are also worth looking into, as these languages reveal elements of central mesoamerican culture even further that Nawatł' souces have left out. The central mesoamerican calendar was established long before Nawas arrived. One of the calendar days in Nawatł' is an earth monster known as Sipaktli. The Maya call it Sipakna. in Yühü(O'tomi') that day is called Antôkhway. 'Tô' means stone; 'Khway' is used to mean obsidian, or in it's blade form, and also refers to the makwawitł', as it decorated with obsidian blades. The day Sipaktli is called a 'stone makwawitł'' in O'tomi', and if you google "cipactli cuahilama" it will show you a bas relief of the sipaktli with a makwawitł' as the top of it's snout; this is interesting since the Cuahilama site is in the Xočimilko area where Nawatł' speakers lived when the Spanish arrived. Also the site of Cacaxtla, a site from as early as around 400CE(at least 200 years before Nawas arrived), has surviving murals with weapons like the atlatl depicted, the wearing of jaguar skins, and the shields used in central mesoamerica.
@@gnomesayin1440 Sir, I really really appreciate the time you took to lay this out and for this extremely informative response. I'm saving this to my computer on facts for the ichcahuipilli I can refer to. I really thank you!
@@indigenouspodcast2257 No prob, brotha. thx for reading my comment.
Man, I wouldn't want to test that to destruction, but I'd love to see how it'd hold up to a musket ball...it doesn't seem to far conceptually from Kevlar.
It was the inspiration for iy
im so thrilled for you.
Thats cool bro. Aprende todo lo que puedas sobre tu cultura. It is up to us, the younger generations to keep the traditions of our ancestors alive. Being natives, we adapt and we survive. Just think about everything that our ancestors endured, the ice age, fighting and hunting huge beasts, genocide,colonization, small pox, and by some miracle we remain here. ✊🏾
Absolutely, brotha! And I really appreciate the support from someone that is almost 100% native!
Where did you purchase this from?
That's badass! Now I want one...
Reason why they didn't use metal weaponry pre-European contact is because it's limited. In the Old World, people get metal thru trade and you have alotta nations to trade from. In Mesoamerica, you don't really have nations that are rich in those resources. You got the Incans, but even then why spend on that time making Bronze weapons when you got obsidean available at your disposal? Bronze is much better than stone, but it's expensive and it's durability isn't enough to justify making weapons and armors out of.
I saw this armour for the first time in the show Deadliest warrior episode Aztec vs Zande
Now you just need a better macuahuitl. Arsenio makes them also.
I would love to get one! Too bad nobody really makes them.
That’s is epic!👍
Very interesting.
Awesome 🤭🙀
how much was it? and where can I buy one?
Grand total for the labor, materials, shipping came out around $290. You can message the artisan I have in the description. He only speaks Spanish though.
@@indigenouspodcast2257 awesome thanks for the info.