Xayaco (Mdz46r)

Xayaco (Mdz46r)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for face (xayacatl) doubles as the glyph for the place name Xayaco. It is a terracotta-colored face looking to our right. The eye is just white, as though it is a hole in a mask.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Masks of heads and faces, both carved in stone and made from ceramics, date from the earliest civilizations in Mesoamerica. The Mexica collected masks. Many were found in the excavation of the Templo Mayor, a considerable number of them in the Mezcala Style of what is now Guerrero. See the museum field, below.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

xayaco. puo

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Xayaco, pueblo

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Names (places)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Colors: 
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

nombres de lugares, máscara, máscaras, masks

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes: 

These stone masks are all in the Mezcala Style, coming from what is now the state of Guerrero, and found in the Temlo Mayor excavation. Some have the attributes of divine forces, such as Xiuhtecuhtli, Tlaloc, or Quetzalcoatl, according to the museum signage. Some have glyphs on the back, some show signs of water, clouds, or maize. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

xayaca(tl), face, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xayacatl

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 46 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 102 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)