teocalli (T2782:15:17r)

The iconographic element of an autonomous-era temple pyramid (teocalli) is depicted on an Indigneous-authored pictorial manuscript created around 1590. It is associated with a second element, a Spanish-style church. The pair of structures, old and the new sacred buildings, stand next to a gloss reading "otunba," together indicating the location of the cabecera (head town) of Otompan, modern day Otumba, a place at least originally associated with the Otomí ethnic group. We are supplying the term teocalli here, given that it does not appear in any glosses or texts on the manuscripts. The word used locally could have been otonteocalli, a term referring to an Otomí or Otomí-style temple. The teocalli is drawn in black. It faces to the right in profile and bears an elaborate tripartite roof or roof comb or crest which appears to be thatched. The detail of the thatch construction is especially gratifying. It has a t-shaped entryway at the top of a series of steps and rests on a raised trapezoidal base. The church is also drawn in black but is presented in a more "European" frontal view (see the historical contextualizing image). The creator of the manuscript and these images relied on the Spanish gloss rather than an obvious place glyph to identify the community specifically (see the gloss image, below).