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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



sign, but also may exactly fill its allotted space. All such modifications 

 probably ui no way affect the meaning of the element thus mutilated. 

 The element shown in figure 10, a-e is a case in pomt. In a and h 

 we have what may be called the normal or regular forms of this 

 element. In c, however, the upper arm has been omitted for the sake 

 of symmetry in a composite glyph, while m d the lower arm has been 

 left out for want of space. Fmally m e both arms have disappeared 

 (W and the element is reduced to the sign (*), which we may con- 

 * elude, therefore, is the essential characteristic of this glyph, par- 

 ticularly since there is no regularity m the treatment of the arms in the 

 normal forms. This suggests another pomt of the utmost importance, 

 namely, the determination of the essential elements of Maya glyphs. 

 The importance of this point lies in the fact that great license was 

 permitted in the treatment of accessory elements so long as the 

 essential element or elements of a glyph could readily be recognized 

 as such. In this way may be explained the use of the so-called 



Fig. 11. Normal-form and head-variant glyphs, sliowing retention of essential element in each. 



"head" variants, in which the outline of the glyph was represented 

 as a human or a grotesque head modified m some way by the essential 

 element of the intended form. The first step in the development of 

 head variants is seen in figure 11, a, b,m which the entire glyph a is 

 used as a he Jl dress in glyph h, the meaning of the two forms remain- 

 ing identical. The next step is shown in the same figure, c and d, in 

 which the outline of the entire glyph c has been changed to form the 

 grotesque head d, though m both glyphs the essential elements are 

 the same. A further development was to apply the essential element 



"Tr ^ (**) o^ ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ f' gi^'i^S ^^^^ ^o ^ ^^^^'^ variant, 



** t the meaning of which suffered no corresponding change. 



The element (f) in figure 11, g, has been reduced m size in Ti, 



<^ Cr^^ though the other two essential elements remain un- 



{ tt changed. A final step appears in i and j, where in 



j the position of one of the two essential elements of i (ft) and 



the form of the other (|) have been changed. These vai-iants 



