

292 MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS [eth. axn, '22 



average of initial dates in the other Qnirigua inscriptions. The next latest 

 initial date is on a restored stairway in one of the temples of Palenque. It is 

 r)5-3-18-12-15X 12— 8 Eb-1.} Pop. That is 7,082 years later than the earliest initial 

 dates at Palenqne. These are long periods, but the limit is not yet reached. In 

 the mnseum at Leyden is tlie misnamed '' Yueatec '" stone, exhumed in digging a 

 cut on the line between Britisli Honduras and Guatemala, about a hiindred miles 

 from Copan. It is a slim .slab of jadite, about a foot long and four inches wide, 

 if my recollection of it is correct. Both sides are inscribed in rather a rude man- 

 ner, the rudeness aj^parently being more attributable to the hardness of the stone 

 than to a lack of skill in the artist. The carving on the front represents a warrior 

 trampling an enemy under his feet. The stone, therefore, is evidently a memo- 

 rial of some victory or conquest. The inscription on the back consists of an ini- 

 tial date in the Archaic form and characters. It is ■53-8-14-8-1X12 — 1 Eb-.") Zao. 

 That is 8,383 years anterior to the latest initial date in Qnirigua. Now, if in 

 accordance with my theory resi^ecting the era of the Archaic cities the 2.348 years 

 that have elapsed since that Qnirigua date was made be added to the above period, 

 we shall arrive at the time when that ancient Maya conqueror trod his enemies 

 under foot — 10,731 years ago — the oldest historical date in the world. 



Dr Seler's opinion on this point is expressed in the followiiij;- qiio- 

 tal ion from liis ]iaper in the Zeitschrift ftir Etlmologie, Heft 0, 1899 : 



Iha ve . in couchision .now to speak of the relation in which the various monuments 

 which we have become acquainted with stand to each other. Here at the outset is 

 to be kept in mind the noteworthy difference which exists between the altar plates of 

 Palenque and the remaining monuments. I have already mentioned that the initial 

 series of all monuments which we are able to read contain in the first member 

 the multiplier nine: and I can add that the same holds also for the stelse of 

 Qnirigua (which I have not yet been able to treat of. as they have not yet been pub- 

 lished in Maudslay"s work) and for stela 6 of Copan. excavated by the engi- 

 neers of the Pealjody Museum. On the altar plates of Palenque, on the contrary, 

 so far as we have been able to decipher them, there stands in the first member 

 the multiplier one. If. as indeed is a priori most probable, the date designated 

 at the end of the first series gives the time of erection of the monument in ques- 

 tion, then we must conclude that all other monuments within the tenth cycle 

 after the beginning and normal date 4 Ahau 8 Cumku — the Temple of the Cross 

 II of Palenque, the Temple of the Sun. and perhaps also the Temple of the Cross 

 I — were constructed within the second cycle after the beginning and normal date. 

 In other words, we must conclude that between the time of the erection of the 

 temples of Palenque and of all the other monuments there lies a period of 

 about 3.1()0 years: that the temples of Palenque are about 3.160 years older 

 than the monuments of Copan and Quirigua, and than the steps of the tow- 

 ering palace of Palenque not far from the temple. This is, in itself, not probable, 

 and all the less so as one would, from the style of the hieroglyphs and figures, be 

 rather inclined to explain the temples of Palenque as younger than the stelw of 

 Copan. The solution of the riddle may be a different one. It may be that, in the 

 initial series of the temples of Palenque. the end date does not represent the date 

 of erection of the temple, but an earlier sacred date which it had been determined 

 to bring into view. It may, however, also be that the time of the erection of the 

 monument was Ijrought into view, not through notation of the actual traditionally 

 accepted distance from the normal date, but as it were in arithmetical fashion 

 through notation of one diff'erence which led from the normal date to a day of 

 this name. 



The end dates of all the remaining monuments whicli we are able to read fall, 

 as said, within the tenth cycle after the Vieginning and normal date 4 Ahau. 8 

 Cumku. 



