As previously noted, the shaved heads may reflect the Mesoamerican symbol for capture, which was seizing the victim’s hair. A shaved head would indicate a willingness to die rather than be captured. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 10:8.)
A new aspect of the Gadianton battle attire was wearing an animal skin about the loins, which Mormon further describes as “being girded about after the manner of robbers.” Since there were no sheep in Mesoamerica, “lamb-skin” must fall into the same category of anomalous descriptors as “horses” and “cattle”—Joseph’s attempt to translate an unfamiliar word (probably an unfamiliar concept), in terms familiar to his nineteenth-century readers. Mesoamericans were well known to wear animal skins, though the animal would typically be a ferocious jaguar, not a peaceful “lamb.” (See also Helaman, Part 1: Context, Chapter 3, “The Gadianton Robbers in Mormon’s Theological History: Their Structural Role and Plausible Identification,” as it discusses the association between the jaguar and the nonotzaleque.) LDS historian Matthew Brown examined Gadianton military battle dress in multiple Book of Mormon passages and identifies five characteristics: (1) It was called a “girdle;” (2) It was made of leather—at least once a lambskin; (3) It became distinctive attire among the secret combinations; (4) It covered the genitals; and (5) It was short.
Brown notes that the Hebrew ‘agorah is often translated interchangeably as “apron” or “girdle.” Similarly, “leather” and “skin” appear to be interchangeable in the Hebrew context. He notes that Maya kings wore a royal apron. The Hebrew context suggests to us that there are linguistic reasons to be cautious about interpreting the English terms in too limited a context. Unless more evidence is discovered that Hebrew underlay the original text, that is the extent of the value of that type of evidence.
Although Brown does not identify a military context for the royal apron, Maya mural and pottery paintings provide ample evidence that animal skins were part of battle dress. Archaeologist Warwick Bray even describes part of the royal Aztec battle dress as an “apron”: “In a bas-relief the Emperor Tizoc is shown in a symbolic battle scene wearing a thigh-length triangular apron. This garment may have been part of the royal war uniform, for Sahagún reports that Montezuma put on a similar apron made of quetzal feathers when he arrayed himself for battle.”
Dying a garment, especially an animal skin, in blood is not specifically documented for the Maya, but the entire purpose of Mesoamerican war regalia would be to present a visually terrifying spectacle. Blood-stained clothing would therefore have certainly been a plausible Mesoamerican battle ploy. In the later Aztec culture, the highest ranking priests (with the title quetzalcoatl), presented a visually striking appearance with their faces and bodies dyed black, their unwashed long hair matted with dried blood from the many sacrifices. The context of these dyed and bloodied priests is very different, yet the function of the appearance may have been parallel. In both the battlefield and the sacrificial temple, dyed and blood-stained participants would have been striking reminders of the nature of the religion and one of the functions of warfare.
Mormon also mentions that the shaven heads are protected by a “head-plate,” whatever that may be. Moroni’s innovations in defensive armor have apparently become commonplace among all other armies mentioned in the Book of Mormon. (See Alma 43:21 for the lack of such armor among a previous Lamanite army.)