MORLEY] INTRODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEEOGLYPHS 67 



moreover, the glypli in the 6th position is unhke the forms in figure 

 24. (4) Five periods, not six, in every Initial Series express the dis- 

 tance from the starting point, 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, to the date recorded 

 at the end of the long numbers. 



It is probable that when the meaning of the "introducing glyph" 

 has been determined it will be found to be quite apart from the 

 numerical side of the Initial Series, at least in so far as the distance 

 of the terminal date from the starting point, 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, is 

 concerned. 



While an Initial Series in the inscriptions, as has been previously 

 explained, is invariably preceded by an "introducing glyph," the 

 opposite does not always obtain. Some of the very earliest monu- 

 ments at Copan, notably Stelse 15, 7, and P, have "introducing 

 glyphs" inscribed on two or three of their four sides, although but 

 one Initial Series is recorded on each of these monuments. Examples 

 of this use of the "introducing glyph," that is, other than as standing 

 at the head of an Initial Series, are confined to a few of the earliest 

 monuments at Copan, and are so rare that the beginner will do well 

 to disregard them altogether and to follow this general rule : That in 

 the inscriptions a glyph of the form shown in figure 24, a-e, will 

 invariably be followed by an Initial Series. 



Having reached the conclusion that the introducing glyph was not 

 a sign for the period of the 6th order, let us next examine the signs 

 for the remaining orders or periods of the chronological system 

 (cycles, katuns, tims, uinals, and kins), constantly bearing in mind 

 that these five periods alone express the long numbers of an Initial 

 Series.^ 



Each of the above periods has two entirely different glyphs which 

 may express it. These have been called (1) The normal form; (2) 

 The head variant. In the inscriptions examples of both these classes 

 occur side by side in the same Initial Series, seemingly according to 

 no fixed rule, some periods being expressed by their normal forms and 

 others by their head variants. In the codices, on the other hand, no 

 head-variant period glyphs have yet been identified, and although 

 the normal forms of the period glyphs have been found, they do not 

 occur as units in Initial Series. 



As head variants also should be classified the so-called "full-figure 

 glyphs," in which the periods given in Table VIII are represented by 

 full figures instead of by heads. In these forms, however, only the 

 heads of the figures are essential, since they alone present the deter- 

 mming characteristics, by means of which in each case identification 

 is possible. Moreover, the head part of any full-figure variant is 

 characterized by precisely the same essential elements as the corre- 



1 The discussion of glyphs which may represent the great cycle or period of the 6th order will be pre- 

 on pp. 114-127 in connection with the discussion of numbers having six or more orders of units. 



