tianquiztli (Mdz67r)

In the contextualizing image, the market is not far from the "mezquita" (at is is glossed in Spanish and showing Spaniards' experience with the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors). The mezquita is actually the teocalli, or principal temple of the community here). A river flow nearby the market, too. In this context, one can also see footprints moving toward the market from some distance on both sides. Some of the other glyphs for marketplaces in this collection feature footprints, suggesting that the presence of people is a common feature. See below for some examples. Note how different the marketplaces appear by 1580–81, in the two examples provided from the Relaciones Geográficas, where rectangles have replaced circles and the central fountain predominates inside the rectangles.

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tepal, tetepotztoca, totoco, otlatoca, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.