The term "head-plates" is mentioned in Alma 43:38. According to William Hamblin, although the Nephites were not the Maya, the Nephite head-plate perhaps can be equated with Maya armor. Headgear among the Maya was used to demonstrate status and could therefore be extremely elaborate. When examining Maya headgear as depicted in art, one ought to bear in mind that nearly all figures in Maya art represent royalty and the elites. The ordinary defensive armor for heads of commoners would have been much simpler. Nonetheless, we can clearly see the basic pattern. At the simplest level, "both men and women used headbands to hold their long hair away from their faces. Made of leather or cloth, these bands were often mounted with ornate carved jade plaques," which could also be called plates.
The next level of complexity in headgear was to create a wooden or cloth hat upon which were mounted small plates of jade, shell, or metal. "Ornate headdresses were constructed on wooden frames and tied under the chin with straps. . . . The headdresses of kings and warriors . . . [were] made of jade or shell plaques mounted on a wooden or mat armature". Finally, elite Maya would add numerous types of decoration, including carvings, glyphs, feathers, and cloth. Though Maya defensive and ritual headgear was complex, it centered around defensive "plate" of stone, wood, or metal that were either mounted on pieces of cloth tied to the head or mounted on frames of wood. Such headgear could certainly be accurately described as a system of defensive "head-plates." [William J. Hamblin, "Armor in the Book of Mormon," in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 413-414]