Star-shaped club head

Star-shaped mace heads were a common form for clubs and weapons from at least the Early Intermediate Period (200 B.C.E.–600 C.E.). The first examples appear in stone, associated with Chavín and Salinar cultures. The succeeding Moche and Nasca developed copper mace heads, which they depict in painted scenes of hand-to-hand combat on ceramic vessels. The pointed metal maces would remain popular throughout Andean cultural history. This metal mace head is composed of copper, with five thick cast points. The uniform copper composition suggests that this mace head may predate the use of copper alloys such as arsenical copper or tin bronze, which begin during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 C.E.).