{{Short description|Shield used by Aztec warriors}} [[File:Xicalcoliuhqui Chimalli.svg|thumb|A Xicalcoliuhqui Chīmalli]] [[Image:Codex Mendoza folio 67r bottom.jpg|thumb|300px|Aztec warriors as depicted in the Codex Mendoza, each one wielding a shield (chīmalli)]] [[File:Chimalli Ahuizotl.jpg|thumb|269x269px|Shield belonging to the Aztec king Ahuitzotl currently Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, Austria.]] [[File:Shield Aztec or Mixtec (Chimalli).jpg|thumb|297x297px|Ceremonial shield (''māhuizzoh chimalli'') with mosaic decoration. Aztec or Mixtec, AD 1400–1521. In the British Museum]] The '''chīmalli''' ({{IPA|nah|t͡ʃiːˈmalːi|-|Chimalli.ogg}}; "shield"), also known as a '''yaochimalli''' ("war shield"),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mursell |first1=Ian |title=What were Aztec shields made of? |url=https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-us/aztec-shields |website=Mexicolore |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref> was the traditional defensive armament of the indigenous states of Mesoamerica. These shields varied in design and purpose. The chīmalli was also used while wearing special headgear.
==Construction== Chīmalli were constructed out of materials such as the skins of deer, ocelots, and rabbits, plants such as bamboo, agave, and cotton, precious metals such as gold, and feathers from local, remote, and migratory birds. A single shield could be covered with as many as 26,400 feathers.<ref name=ElUniversal>{{cite news |last=Gámez |first=Alberto |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/chimalli-shield-aztec-emblem-art |title=The Chimalli shield, an Aztec emblem of art |newspaper=El Universal |date=November 11, 2019 |accessdate=December 4, 2019 |df=mdy }}</ref>
Feathers for chīmalli were collected by bird breeders called '''amantecas''', who hunted and raised several species of birds for the purpose of using their feathers for art. Being an amanteca was a family tradition, and one would teach the art to their progeny. The creation of chīmalli was also a community tradition, an art that involved amantecas, as well as goldsmiths, carpenters, and painters.<ref name=ElUniversal />
==Variations== The size of the shields varied. Some had normal (circular design) dimensions, others covered the whole body. There are reports of versions that could be folded. There were also ceremonial shields called "māhuizzoh chīmalli" ({{IPA|nah|ˈmaːwisːoo̥ t͡ʃiːˈmalːi}}?).<ref>George Cameron Stone, Donald J. LaRocca, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Verlag Courier Dover Publications, 1999, page 179, {{ISBN|978-0-486-40726-5}} </ref>
==See also== *Aztec warfare *Armor *Shield
==References== {{reflist}}
== Literature == * Frances Berdan, Patricia Rieff Anawalt, ''The Codex Mendoza'', Verlag University of California Press, 1992, page 6, {{ISBN|978-0-520-06234-4}} * Justyna Olko, ''Turquoise diadems and staffs of the office: elite costume and insignia of power in Aztec and early colonial Mexico'', Verlag Polish Society for Latin American Studies and Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition, University of Warsaw, 2005, page 229, {{ISBN|978-83-923482-1-4}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chimalli}} Category:Aztec society Category:Shields Category:Mexican heraldry Category:Mesoamerican military equipment