74 



KESEARCH AT THE RUINS OF CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. 



4. Chichen Itza, the Key to the Correlation of Maya and Christian Chronology. 

 Chichen Itza is the only site in the Maya area that is known to have 

 had dates recorded in both the old and the new system of Maya chi"o- 

 nology. After the colonization of Yucatan, the system of chronology 

 prevalent in the south, the so-called Initial Series,' 

 seems to have fallen into disuse. Indeed, Chichen 

 Itza is the only large site in the north at which it 

 has been found. A drawing of the lintel with this 

 remarkable inscription is given in the accompanying 

 figure. The date here recorded was the day 10.2.9.1.9 

 9 Muluc 7 Zac of Maya Chronology, or approximately 

 600 A. D. This date was found inscribed on the lintel 

 of the principal doorway of a small and apparently 

 insignificant temple. (See Plate 4b.) In place of the 

 method of recording dates by Initial Series, there was 

 developed in Yucatan a more abbreviated method, 

 called the u kahlay katunob,- which, though less accu- 

 rate, was more easily recorded. This latter method, 

 because of its greater simplicity, prevailed until the 

 coming of the Spaniards ; and, what is of more impor- 

 tance, it has been accurately correlated with Christian 

 chronology by means of several historical events, dated 

 in terms of both the Maya and the Christian calendars. 

 Since the whole question of the age of the Maya ruins 

 depends upon the proper alinement and correlation of 

 the Initial Series with the u kahlay katunob, it follows 

 that Chichen Itza is the only site at which this impor- 

 tant question can be studied. In a word, it is the 

 key-site for the study of Maya chronology. 



^sm 



U£ 



Chichen Itza, the Connecting Link between the Maya 

 and Nahua Civilizations. 



0/ 



Chichen Itza Initial Series. 

 The date in Maya chro- 

 nology here recorded corre- 

 aponda approximately to 

 600 A. D. 



In studying any ancient civilization it is important 

 to estabhsh its cultural affinities ; that is, to trace not 

 only its influence upon surrounding cultures, but also 

 the influence of surrounding cultures upon it. Chichen 

 Itza is the only large Maya city that ever came under strong foreign influ- 

 ence. It has been explained that after the defeat of the Itza, about 1200 

 A. D., their city was probably given over to the Nahua allies of the victorious 



' The Initial Series method of recording dates has been so named because when it is present it always 

 stands at the beginning of an inscription. It denotes, by means of five time periods, the number of days 

 which have elapsed from the starting-point of Maya chronology to the date recorded. It is interesting to 

 note in this connection that practically all of the southern Maya cities flourished during Cycle 9 of their epoch 

 or about 3,500 years after the starting-point. This long gap between the starting-point and the first recorded 

 dates clearly indicates the hypothetical nature of the starting-point, a parallel case being that of Bi.shop Usher's 

 date of 4004 b. c. for the creation of the world. The Maya doubtless developed their complex clironological 

 system two or three thousand years after the date which they selected for its starting-point. 



'The u kahlay katunob (Maya for "Record of the Katuns") is, as its name signifies, a record of the 

 katuns, a Maya time period containing 7,200 days or nearly twenty years (19.71 +). In the u kahlay katunob, 

 ih.i katuns were regarded as following each other in an endless sequence since the beginning of the record, and 

 events were described as having occurred in sucli and such a katun. 



