Overlooked Weapon of Ancient History: The DISC MACE

You've seen flanged and spiked maces, but did you know about the disc type? Found in ancient Egypt, Neolithic (Younger Stone Age) Europe, Mesoamerica, Papua New Guinea, and probably other places. Made of various types of rock, copper, bronze, and even bone. It's almost more like a sort of omni axe than a mace, and definitely more sophisticated than a stereotypical caveman club / cudgel.

Unknown (and underrated) by many people, this unique impact weapon deserves a closer look.

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Special thanks to Quinn Waterfield for making the steel disc mace, and Ace the Super Villain for commissioning it.

Also thanks to Rick Marchand for letting me do the testing at his place, and for coming up with the coconut holder.

*** Time Stamps ***

00:00 - 00:50 Intro
00:50 - 04:54 Historical Examples
04:54 - 05:28 Steel reproduction / Patreon goodies
05:28 - 08:36 Testing on pumpkins and coconuts
08:36 - 10:50 Why were they rare?
10:50 - 17:07 Pros & Cons / Comparison to other Forms
17:07 - 19:13 Carrying on the hip: Too Awkward?
19:13 - 19:46 Ideas for interesting variations
19:46 - 20:25 Closing thoughts
20:25 - 21:21 Outtakes / outro

*** Music ***

Intro song:
"Illuminate" by Vindsvept
Used with artist's permission

"Ritual Traps" by Alexandr Zhelanov (Ethnic Aztec \ Maya style)
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Outtakes:
"Little People At Work" by Horrorpen
CC BY 3.0

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

*** Interesting Stuff ***

Books about history and/or martial arts, swords, knives, video/audio equipment, and other stuff I recommend (as an Amazon Affiliate I earn commission through these links):

Kult of Athena, my favorite online store for reproductions of arms and armor, fantasy swords, etc (affiliate link):

Where to get HEMA gear and practice swords (affiliate link):

*** Social media & merch ***

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[Skallagrim]

Check out Quinn Waterfield's work (the maker of the steel disc mace I tested in this video):

[auger]

I love the progress he made over the years.
Started off as a bit of an edge lord blade lover
Now he’s an a weapons expert as well as a bit of a historian. We love love you skall never stop improving

[judahboyd]

There was an exhibit with these that passed through my local library one time. It's interesting to see how relatively complex stone weapons got before copper became commonplace.

[Ghin_Antonic]

*Drinks from coconut after smashing* - Skal drinking the blood of his enemies.

[martinhg]

Thay might be faster to make. You dont ned to drill as far. And there are many flat stones.

[erroneous]

As a geologist I appreciate that you’re trying.

[waltercromer]

Shape could be due to using already flat rocks such as you find at a river which would also have less material to drill through.

[DenyThisFlesh]

Did not expect the video to start with mentioning Mace: The Dark Age. I loved that game.

[eduardoferreiradesa]

A very interesting video. I never heard of such mace type in my life, now I think they are quite cool.

[CtrlAltRetreat]

Honestly the easiest way to carry one of these things would be to use a basic belt loop boot like sole of the hatchet loops used by frontiersmen with an wooden or leather disc attached to the top just slightly larger than the disc. The fact that the hole is concentric, it's lying right up against the disc, and you'd come in contact with the non choppy but first should make it quite safe to carry around and draw pretty much exactly like you'd do with a hatchet or tomahawk

[kerbal]

The fact you brought up Mace: The dark age pleases me.

[scuttlerot]

One of my favorite games of actually playing, and not running, a game of d&d was when I was a thieving bruiser(DM retrofitted Pathfinder sub class).

so I could still disarm traps and unlock doors, but I did not sneak around.. I intimidated after I let myself in, and if push came to shove, I had a trusty buckler and three disc mace.
( I forget which weapon he retrofitted the stats for, all I remember is that I got a magic one that could propel one of the rings as a razor disc mid-fight for a slight temp damage Nerf)

My underworld nickname was 'ringlet' because of my preference for triple disk mace. It was pretty cool world building on my DMs part. 😁

[velazquezarmouries]

This would be a good way to make an improvised mace

[chaos_omega]

"This thing is cool, but it could use a top spike."
[Skall mentions putting on a top spike.]
Yeah babyyyy! That's what I've been waiting for, that's what it's all about! WOOOO!"

[dannielbross]

The macanas are weapons of antiquity that are very effective in combat but are usually underestimated, the Inca empire used many types of weapons and one of them is the macanas since the Incas were both star point and star point and axe, These macanas were made of an alloy of copper, bronze and tin making them very resistant, that is why the Inca empire was the largest empire in size, population and the most powerful and militarily advanced in the American continent before the Spanish.
Good video 👍🏻

[TroyBrown-uprt]

Nice I just need some thick rebar and some old saw blades a bit of welding maybe a nice handle with spike

[snadvvidge]

I wonder if it was phased out in specific places sooner than others because those were places that metal helmets became more common

[goiterlanternbase]

I guess this geometry is older.
We made hammers, by drilling through flat rhinestones, pretty early on. Sharpen the edges, was also a thing, back then. This steel disk was basically an edge lord axe, then.

[CapnJTP]

Who'd have thought rotating an axe 90 degrees would turn it into a can opener.

[BespokeCarpentry]

Thank you for including freedom meters, much appreciated.(tips cowboy hat)