What type of club did Inca warriors use?

Inca warriors used a type of club called a macana. The name was applied by Spanish chroniclers to several wooden, mace-like or sword-shaped weapons used in close combat.

Macanas varied in form. Some were made from hard wood and resembled broad wooden swords, while other Inca club weapons had heavy stone, copper, or bronze heads. A related weapon, the chaska chuqui, had a star-shaped head designed to concentrate the force of a blow. These weapons were especially useful in hand-to-hand fighting after ranged attacks with slings, darts, or arrows.

The term can cause confusion because macana is a broad colonial-era label rather than the name of one perfectly standardized Inca weapon. It is also used for Indigenous clubs from other parts of the Americas, including the Caribbean and Mesoamerica. The macana should not automatically be identified with the Aztec macuahuitl: the two could be similar in being wooden weapons, but they belonged to different regional traditions and designs. Inca armies also carried spears, axes, slings, shields, and other weapons.