Shields and Armor

Conquest- and Colonial-period accounts from Yucatán suggest that important warriors often went to battle wearing armor (C.D.I. 1898; Tozzer 1941: 121). According to Roys (1943: 66; also Tozzer 1941: 35, 121), protective coverings consisted of short cotton jackets packed with rock salt and tight bindings of leather or cloth on forearms and legs. The Relación de la Ciudad de Mérida reported the use of armor that consisted of a long, narrow piece of cotton tied to the trunk of the body, generally without a sleeve (in C.D.I. 1898). The Relación de Campocolche y Chochola described a kind of twisted wrapper made of rolled cotton worn all over the body that was so strong arrows could not penetrate it (in C.D.I. 1898). Cotton armor was occasionally festooned with various decorations and frequently edged with featherwork. While elite soldiers or "captains" were clad in such elaborate garb, perhaps including helmets (Tozzer 1941: 122), commoners wore little more than loincloths and boy paint (López de Cogolludo 1954; Roys 1943: 66; Villagutierre Soto-Mayor 1983). Shields carried by Maya warriors were faced with deerhide over two covers of wooden bars placed at right angels to each other or woven with split reeds (Landa in Tozzer 1941: 121; Roys 1943: 66).