It is therefore possible, but obviously cannot be confirmed, that the “steel swords” might have been wooden macuahuitls edged with metal instead of obsidian, which had a much better cutting edge, but were less durable. Nevertheless, I don’t find this a persuasive argument.
Direct archaeological evidence for metal use (other than for mirrors) is not yet attested. The linguistic evidence reconstructs a word for metal in the Mixe-Zoquean vocabulary (*ting-kuy). It is certain that there was metal, else there would be no reason to have the word. However, it could have referred to the iron ore and not to smelted metal. Confirmation of early metal working is still absent.
Chronology: Using the average of reigns would date Shule’s rule at 1010 to 980 B.C. However, his may have been longer than the average, presumably making others shorter or stretching the dating somewhat, since Shule lived into his late seventies or into his eighties. (See commentary accompanying verse 22.)