Chimalli

Origins

Shields were used throughout ancient Mesoamerica, and round shields appear in the art of the Toltecs and other earlier cultures of central Mexico. The Nahuatl word chimalli simply means shield. By the time of the Aztec Empire in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries the chimalli was part of the standard equipment of every warrior, and it carried strong symbolic meaning. In Aztec picture writing, a shield with a bundle of darts or arrows stood for war. Personal names used the word, such as Chimalpopoca, "smoking shield," the name of the third Mexica ruler. Shields were among the war goods that subject provinces sent as tribute to Tenochtitlan. Pictures in the Codex Mendoza show that warriors who took captives in battle were rewarded with costumes and shields of particular designs, so that a man's shield announced his record in war.

Design & Construction

The fighting chimalli was usually round and often described as somewhere around 60 to 75 cm across, though sizes varied. Many were made from split cane or reeds woven tightly together, sometimes over a wooden frame, and backed with layers of cotton or hide. Others were made of wood. A pair of handles or straps on the back allowed the warrior to hold it on the forearm. Many shields had a fringe of feathers or leather strips hanging from the lower edge, which may have helped to deflect missiles aimed at the legs. The faces of war shields were painted or covered with feathers in designs that showed the owner's unit, rank or achievements. Ceremonial shields were even finer, covered with feather mosaic and sometimes gold. One surviving example in Vienna, of feathers on a reed and wood base, shows a water creature outlined in gold, and another feather shield survives in Stuttgart.

Combat Use

Aztec warfare depended on skilled individual fighting, and much of it aimed at capturing enemies for sacrifice rather than killing them. The warrior held the chimalli in his left hand and the Aztec Macuahuitl or a thrusting spear such as the Tepoztopilli in his right. At the start of a battle he also used the shield to ward off arrows, sling stones and darts from the Atlatl, then closed in for hand-to-hand fighting. Because the shield was light, a warrior could move quickly in the open, fluid style of fighting favored in Mesoamerican battle. Together with the Ichcahuipilli cotton armor, the shield gave good protection against obsidian and stone weapons. It was much less useful against Spanish steel swords, crossbow bolts and bullets. During the Fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521, Mexica warriors fought from canoes, rooftops and causeways with shields, clubs and missiles against the Spaniards and their many indigenous allies, who carried the same kind of shield themselves.

Legacy

After the conquest most chimalli were destroyed or decayed, and only a handful of Aztec shields survive, most of them feather shields sent to Europe in the sixteenth century as curiosities or gifts. They are among the most important surviving examples of Aztec featherwork. The shield has remained a familiar image in Mexican art and in modern depictions of the Mexica past. Modern reproductions of the chimalli are made for museums, dance groups and reenactors, and the shield features in almost every modern image of an Aztec warrior. For historians it is a reminder that Mesoamerican warfare had its own well-developed traditions of arms and armor before 1519.