A number of recent studies by Latter-day Saint scholars have suggested that the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican weapon known as the macuahuitl or macana fits the criteria for the Book of Mormon New World "sword." Critics maintain that the term "sword" in the Book of Mormon must refer to a weapon similar to a metal cavalry broadsword (much like we see in the movies of the civil war and the old west). They base their assumptions on certain terms or phrases mentioned in the text. One of these phrases is found in Alma 17:37, "he [Ammon] smote off their arms with his sword."
According to Matthew Roper, critics cannot understand how Ammon could cut off the arms of his Lamanite enemies at the waters of Sebus, or how the Nephite soldier could cut off a part of Zarahemnah's scalp (Alma 44:12) with one defensive blow, if they were using a macuahuitl which they imply was just a club. Those familiar with Mesoamerican warfare and historical descriptions of this weapon would not view this as a problem. Those Spaniards who encountered Mexican "swords" in battle were deeply impressed by their deadly cutting power and razorlike sharpness. Here are a few statements that adequately illustrate this point:
These swords cut naked men as if they were steel.
Their swords, which were as long as broadswords, were made of flint which cut worse than a knife, and the blades were so set that one could neither break them nor pull them out.
They slashed at his mare, cutting her head at the neck so that it only hung by the skin.
They killed the mare with a single sword-stroke.
There were shields large and small, and a sort of broadsword, and two-handed swords set with flint blades that cut much better than our swords.
[Matthew Roper, "On Cynics and Swords," in FARMS Review of Books, Vol. 9/1 1997, pp. 148-154]