Our current examples of glyphs or glyphic elements that show ethnic markers all come from the Codex Mendoza or the Matrícula de Tributos (the latter is copied in the Codex Mendoza). The following examples appear in alphabetic order.
CHOLLOLTECATL
Image: from f. 42r.
Gloss: “chululteca”
Gloss translation: The people of Chollolan, or Cholula, in the modern spelling. Differing from the glosses for Tlaxcaltecatl and Huexotzincatl, this gloss is not singular.
To investigate: The red headband and top knot be ethnic markers associated with people from Chollolan.
HUEXOTZINCATL
Image: from f. 42r.
Gloss: “huexotzincatl” (a person from Huexotzinco, or Huejotzingo, in the modern spelling)
To investigate: The red headband, the hair being put behind the ears, and the curving white device (or paint or tattoo) on the cheek/chin may be ethnic markers associated with people from Huexotzinco.
OTOMITL
Image: from f. 3v.
Identification: The gloss for the full glyph (“otunpa,” or the place of the Otomi) makes it clear that this is meant to be an Otomi person.
To investigate: The vertical and horizontal red lines may represent face paint or tattoos used by the Otomi. Note also the long hair and the jade ear plug, which may be additional ethnic markers. The Otomi were known for their unique haircuts. See: James Lockhart, Nahuas and Spaniards: Postconquest Central Mexican History and Philology (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991), 147.
TENOCHCATL
Image: from f. 4v.
Identification: The glyph (tetl, stone, plus nochtli, fruit of the prickly pear cactus) identifies the person as a Tenochcatl (a person from Tenochtitlan, or Mexico City). The gloss below this head—and four other heads to the left of it—explains that these heads represent “mexicanos” who were killed by the people of Chalco. The closed eye on this head supports the explanation that he is deceased. From an early seventeenth-century source, we have further information regarding the people known as the Tenochca: “And their names were Azteca and also Mexitin. But now their name is really said to [be] only Mexica. And later they arrived here taking as their name Tenochca.” Source: Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 68–69.
To investigate: The horizontal line across the face (paint? tattoo?) may be an ethnic marker associated with people from Tenochtitlan.
TLAXCALTECATL
Image: from f. 42r.
Gloss: “tlaxcaltecatl” [the “x” appears to have been written as “s” by mistake]
Gloss translation: A person from Tlaxcallan, or Tlaxcala, in the modern spelling.
Glyph: The hieroglyph above the person’s head and attached to him by a line includes the element tlaxcalli (meaning tortilla), which is the root of the place name and and therefore this particular ethnicity. See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corn_tortilla_tlaxcalli_Codex_Mendoza_Aztec_glyph_symbol.png
To investigate: The top knot and the spine on the chin may be ethnic markers associated with people from Tlaxcallan.
XOCHIMILCATL
Image: from f. 2v.
Glyph: The hieroglyph to the right of the person’s head and attached to him by a line includes the elements xochitl (flower) and milli (field), which are the basic components of the place name and, therefore, this particular ethnicity.
To investigate: The top knot, the earring, and the red face paint or tattooing around the mouth may all be ethnic markers associated with the people from Xochimilco. Note that the person’s eye is closed, which is an indicator that he is deceased. The short text on f. 2v. explains that four towns are featured on this page and all were conquered by Acamapich during the time that he was the lord of Mexico. The text further notes that this particular person was one of four men captured and beheaded in the conquest of the four towns, Quauhnahuac, Mizquic, Cuitlahuac, and Xochimilco. Importantly, all four men have the same top knot, earring, and red markings around their mouths, suggesting that these are not necessarily ethnic markers that are limited to Xochimilco.