70 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 51 



THE TUN GLYPH 



Tlie period of the 3d place or order was called by the Maya the 

 tun, which means "stone," possibly because a stone was set up every 

 360 days or each tun or some multiple thereof. Com- 

 pare so-called hotun or katun stones described on page 

 34. The normal sign for the tun in the inscriptions 

 (see fig. 29, a, h) is identical with the form found in 

 the codices (see fig. 29, c). The head variant, which 

 bears a general resemblance to the head variant for 

 the cycle and katun, has several forms. The one 

 figure variant most readily recognized, because it has the normal 

 of katun sign. ^-^^ ^^^ -^^ supcrfix, is showu in figure 29, d, e. The 

 determining characteristic of the head variant of the tun glyph, 

 however, is the fleshless lower jaw (|), as shown in figure 29 

 /, g, though even this is lacking in some few cases. The ^— sss© 

 form shown in figure 29, h, is found at Palenque, where it ^x 



Fig. 28. Full- 



e f 9 fi 



Fig. 29. Signs for the tim: a-d, Normal forms; c-li, head variants. 



seems to represent the tun period in several places. The head of 

 the full-figure form (fig. 30) has the same fleshless lower jaw for its 

 essential characteristic as the head-variant forms in fig- 

 ure 29. The body joined to this head is again that of a 

 bird the identity of which has not yet been determined. 



THE UlNAL GLYPH 



The period occupying the 2d place was called by the 



Maya uinal or u. This latter word means also " the 



Fig. 30. Full-fig- moon " in Maya, and the fact that the moon is visible 



ure variant of fyj. j^g^ about 20 days in each lunation may account 



for the application of its name to the 20-da37' period. 



The normal form of the uinal glyph in the inscriptions (see fig. 31, 



a, h) is practically identical with the form in the codices (see fig. 31 , c) . 



