War & Weapons
Both the royal family and elite scribes/artists at Aguateca used spear and dart points for "inter-group human conflict" as well as for artistic and craft production under enemy threat. The ruler and elite were also warriors, and owning these weapons and participating in warfare established and perpetuated their supremacy. Spear and dart points were more important than the bow and arrow, but notches in these points do indicate that the bow and arrow was in use. Inter-valley conflict may have been a crucial factor that lead to the development of Classic Maya complex societies such as Aguateca. This warfare had a fundamental affect on society, and is what ultimately led to the demise of Aguateca.
Read more about this topic: Aguateca
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or weapons:
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
—Bible: Hebrew Isaiah 2:4.
“When it comes to my own turn to lay my weapons down, I shall do so with thankfulness and fatigue, and whatever be my destiny afterward, I shall be glad to lie down with my fathers in honour. It is human at least, if not divine.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)