124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



indeed staggers the imagination, dealing as it does with more than 

 five milHon years. 



If these eight terms all belong to one and the same numerical 

 series, a fact the writer believes he has established in the foregoing 

 pages, it means that Cycle 9, the first historic period of the Maya 

 civilization, was Cycle 9 of Great Cycle 19 of Great-great Cycle 11 of 

 Great-great-great Cycle 1. In other words, the starting point of 

 Maya chronology, which we have seen was the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, 

 9 cycles before the close of a Cycle 9, was in reality 1. 11. 19. 0. 0. 0. 

 0. 0. 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, or simply a fixed point in a far vaster chrono- 

 logical conception. 



Furthermore, it proves, as contended by the writer on page 113, 

 that a great cycle came to an end on this date, 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu. 

 This is true because on the above date (1. 11. 19. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 4 Ahau 

 8 Cumhu) all the five periods lower than the great cycle are at 0. It 

 proves, furthermore, as the writer also contended, that the date 4 Ahau 

 8 Zotz, 13 cycles in advance of the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, did not end 

 a great cycle — 



1. 11. 19. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu 



13. 0. 0. 0. 0. 

 1. 11. 18. 7. 0. 0. 0. 0. 4 Ahau 8 Zotz 



but, on the contrary, was a Cycle 7 of Great Cycle 18, the end of 

 which (19. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu) was the starting point of 

 Maya chronology. 



It seems to the writer that the above construction is the only one 

 that can be put on this text if we admit that the eight periods in 

 A2-A9, figure 60, all belong to one and the same numerical series. 



Furthermore, it would show that the great cycle in which fell the 

 first historic period of the Maya civilization (Cycle 9) was itself the 

 closing great cycle of a great-great cych^, namely. Great-great Cycle 1 1 : 



1. 11. 19. 0. 0. 6. 0. 0. 



1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 



1. 12. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 



That is to say, that when Great Cycle 19 had completed itself, Great- 

 great Cycle 12 would be ushered in. 



We have seen on pages 108-1 13 that the names of the cycles followed 

 one another in this sequence: Cycle 1, Cycle 2, Cycle 3, etc., to Cycle 

 13, which was followed by Cycle 1, and the sequence repeated itself. 

 We saw, however, that these names probably had nothing to do vnih 

 the positions of the cycles in the great (;ycle; that on the contrary 

 these numbers were names and not positions in a higher term. 



Now wc have seen that Maya chronology began with a Cycle 1; 

 that is, it was counted from the end of a Cvcle 13. Therefore, the 



