camachalli (Mdz42r)
This element for a jaw bone (camachalli) has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name Tecamachalco. The jaw is made of stone in this case, because of the tetl) (stone) part of the place name. Thus, it has purple and terracotta (or orange) wavy stripes and curling features that are typical of stones or rocky outcroppings. A full set of white teeth (or six, symbolically representing the full set), set in an open mouth, draw attention to the jaw. The teeth and mouth are shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right.
Stephanie Wood
The full set of teeth is typically indicative of the post-position, or locative suffix, -titlan, but in this case the teeth are simply there to point to the presence of a jaw bone.
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
jaws, mandíbulas
camachal(li), the jaw, jawbone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/camachalli
la mandíbula
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 of 188.
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).
