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Mayan shield?

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 2:43 pm
by Heresy
Hello!

I need help!

My next proyect will be a Mayan army (pre-columbian), but I don't found info on the net about the symbols or shield heraldic!. I will use Gladiator Miniatures (15mm), and these miniatures present two shields: one rectangualr and one circular:

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Can you help me?

Thanks you!

Saludos!.

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:08 pm
by Strategos69
There is an Osprey book (by the way, translated into Spanish with the title "América Latina: de la conquista a la independencia") where you can find some shields' designs. In general the representations you can find are rather geometrical, with vivid colours.

Here you have some representations. The first one is for Aztecs, the second one for Mayans:

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It seems that close combat fighters used a round shiled whereas square ones were used more by slingers. At least that is how they are represented in the Osprey book. The problem is that I have seen some Mayan and Aztec paintings and it seems that it is not easy to figure out if that is a round or a square shield or a square shield with the edges rounded. According to these gliphons, the Mayans could have perfectly used the square version too. What I have not seen is any representation of Aztects with a square shield. More information here:

http://www.realalternativesite.com/maya ... -1302.html

Suerte con este proyecto.