huacalli (Mdz70r)

This iconographic element shows a rectangular container made of a woven material much like the woven mats called "petates" in Mexican Spanish (petlatl, in Nahuatl). This basket-like container also has a strap for carrying it, perhaps over the shoulder or across the forehead. On the page from which this example comes, the basket is paired with a coa (digging stick, huictli in Nahuatl) and placed in front of a young man in tears and with his head bowed. He is being talked to by an official, a type of supervisor of public works, according to the glosses (petlacalcatl, mayordomo).