MOELEY] INTRODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 167 



139, and next rule 2, page 140, to this number (572), the student will 

 find the day reached to be 4 Eb. And applying rule 3, page 141, he 

 will find that the year position reached mil be 10 Yax ; ^ hence, the 

 terminal date as determined by calculation will be 4 Eb 10 Yax. 



Turning again to the text (pi. 6, D), the next step (see step 5, p. 151) 

 is to find the glyphs representing the above terminal date. In this 

 connection it should be remembered that the day part of an Initial- 

 series terminal date usually follows immediately the last period 

 glyph of the number. The glyph in A4, therefore, should record the 

 day reached. Comparing tliis form with the several day signs in 

 figure 16, it appears that A4 more closely resembles the sign for Eb 

 (fig. 16, s-u) than any of the others, hence the student may accept 

 Eb as the day sign recorded in A4. The 4 dots prefix:ed to this sign 

 show that the day 4 Eb is here indicated. The month sign, as stated 

 on page 152, usually follows the last glyph of the Supplementary 

 Series; passing over B4, A5, B5, and A6, we reach the latter glyph 

 in B6. Compare the left half of B6 with the forms given in figiu-e 

 65, The coefficient 9 or 10 is expressed by a considerably effaced 

 head numeral. Immediately following the month-sign "indicator" 

 is the month sign itself m A7. The student wdll have little difficulty 

 in tracing its resemblance to the month Yax in figure 19, q, r, although 

 in A7 the Yax element itself appears as the prefiji; instead of as the 

 superfix, as in g; and r, just cited. This difi'erence, however, is imma- 

 terial. The month coefficient is quite clearly 10,^ and the whole 

 terminal date recorded will read 4 Eb 10 Yax, which corresponds 

 exactly with the terminal date determined by calculation. We may 

 accept this text, therefore, as recording the Initial-series date 

 9.12.10.5.12 4 Eb 10 Yax of Maya chronology. 



In the foregoing examples nothmg but normal-form period glyphs 

 have been presented, in order that the first exercises in deciphering the 

 inscriptions may be as easy as possible. By this time, however, the 

 student should be sufficiently familiar with the normal forms of the 

 period glyphs to be able to recognize them when they are present in' 

 the text, and the next Initial Series figured will have its period glyphs 

 expressed by head variants. 



In A, plate 7, is figured the Initial Series from Stela B at Copan,^ 

 The introducing glyph appears at the head of the inscription ui Al 



1 In each of the above cases— and, indeed, in all the examples following— the student should perform 

 the various calculations by which the results are reached, in order to familiarize himself with the work- 

 ings of the Maya chronological system. 



2 The student may apply a check at this point to his identification of the day sign in A4 as being that for 

 the day Eb. Since the month coefficient in A7 is surely 10 (2 bars), it is clear from Table VII that the 

 only days which can occupy tliis position in any division of the year are Ik, Manik, Eb, and Caban. Now, 

 by comparing the sign in A4 with the signs for Ik, Manik, and Caban, c,j, and a', V, respectively, of fig. 

 16, it is very evident that A4 bears no resemblance to any of them; hence, since Eb is the only one left 

 which can occupy a position 10, the day sign in A4 must be Eb, a fact supported by the comparison of 

 A4 with fig. 16, s-u, above. 



3 The full text of this inscription will be found in Maudslay, 1889-1901: I, pis. 35-37. 



