Search Results
7/15/2025, 7:05:03 PM
>>63985465
I litterally just explained in the post you're replying to that, at best, only about half of Mesoamerica was actually jungles or swamps. And the region had metallurgy, not just of gold, silver, and copper, but also some bronze smelting.
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/aztec-bronze-metallurgy-in-mesoamerica.119652/ is a excellent overview of Mesoamerican metallurgy, though I will say that him stating the region didn't have metal weapons is probably incorrect: Yes, most metal axes are axe-monies or are woodworking tools, but there are some depiction of them which are martial in nature, wielded by soldiers or deities in military gear. You could (and some have) argued this is depicting ceremonial use merely with military insignia alongside it, and that is likely true for some of those manuscript depictions, but at least a few seem to be literal depictions of actual historical battles from around contact period, and Bernal Diaz in his account of the Cortes expedition says that a boarding party used metal axes to cut rope and such when attacking their boats. The Relacion de Michoacan also states the Purepecha had morning star like maces with copper or bronze spikes, and some depictions of what may be metal tipped polearms, though I've seen it argued the latter are more insignia/standards rather then functional weapons.
That's not to say I think they could have just had their allies smelt them metal armor, there's really no evidence that was a thing in the region outside of mostly decorative gold/copper/bronze plates and inlays used on shields and helmets, and a few scant descriptions of gilded war jackets/tunics that had gold or silver mail/scales, but that too was more status-indicating/decorative then it was functional .
In any case, the Conquistadors also didn't think local armor (or cities, buildings, art, etc) was "crappy", Spanish accounts pretty consistently praise them. See pic for a Conquistador praising their armor.
I litterally just explained in the post you're replying to that, at best, only about half of Mesoamerica was actually jungles or swamps. And the region had metallurgy, not just of gold, silver, and copper, but also some bronze smelting.
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/aztec-bronze-metallurgy-in-mesoamerica.119652/ is a excellent overview of Mesoamerican metallurgy, though I will say that him stating the region didn't have metal weapons is probably incorrect: Yes, most metal axes are axe-monies or are woodworking tools, but there are some depiction of them which are martial in nature, wielded by soldiers or deities in military gear. You could (and some have) argued this is depicting ceremonial use merely with military insignia alongside it, and that is likely true for some of those manuscript depictions, but at least a few seem to be literal depictions of actual historical battles from around contact period, and Bernal Diaz in his account of the Cortes expedition says that a boarding party used metal axes to cut rope and such when attacking their boats. The Relacion de Michoacan also states the Purepecha had morning star like maces with copper or bronze spikes, and some depictions of what may be metal tipped polearms, though I've seen it argued the latter are more insignia/standards rather then functional weapons.
That's not to say I think they could have just had their allies smelt them metal armor, there's really no evidence that was a thing in the region outside of mostly decorative gold/copper/bronze plates and inlays used on shields and helmets, and a few scant descriptions of gilded war jackets/tunics that had gold or silver mail/scales, but that too was more status-indicating/decorative then it was functional .
In any case, the Conquistadors also didn't think local armor (or cities, buildings, art, etc) was "crappy", Spanish accounts pretty consistently praise them. See pic for a Conquistador praising their armor.
Page 1