180 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



respectively) to the remainder, the terminal day reached will be 

 foimd to be 6 Ahau 13 Kayab. 



In B5 the profile variant of the day sign, Ahau, is clearly recorded 

 (fig. \6,h',i'), and to it is attached a head-variant numeral. Com- 

 paring tliis with the head-variant numerals in figures 51-53, the stu- 

 dent mil have little difficulty in identifying it as the head for 6 (see 

 fig. 51, t-^). Note the so-called "hatchet eye" in A5, which is the 

 determining characteristic of the head for 6 (see p. 99). Passing 

 over A6 B6, A7 B7, A8 B8, we reach in A9 the closing glyph of 

 the Supplementary Series, here showing the head-variant coefficient 

 10 (see fig. 52, m-r). In B9, the next gl3T)h, is recorded the month 

 13 Kayab (see fig. 19, d'-f). The whole Initial Series therefore 

 reads 9.17.5.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab. 



All the Initial Series heretofore presented have had normal-form 

 numerals with the exception of an incidental head-variant number 

 here and there. By this time the student should have become thor- 

 oughly familiar \vitli the use of bar and dot numerals in the inscrip- 

 tions and should be ready for the presentation of texts showing head- 

 variant numerals, a more difficult group of glyphs to identify. 



In plate 12, A, is figured the Initial Series on the tablet from the 

 Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque.^ The mtroducing glyph 

 appears in Al B2, and is followed by the Initial-series number in 

 A3-B7. The student will have little difficulty in identifying the heads 

 in B3, B4, B5, B6, and B7 as the head variants for the cycle, katun, 

 tim, uinal, and kin, respectively. The head in A3 prefixed to the 

 cycle glyph in B3 has for its determining characteristic the forehead 

 ornament composed of more than one pari (here, of two parts). As 

 explained on page 97, this is the essential element of the head for 1. 

 Compare A3 with figure 51, a-e, and the two gl3^hs will be found to 

 be identical. We may conclude, therefore, that in place of the usual 

 9 cycles heretofore encomitered in Initial Series, we have recorded 

 in A3-B3 1 cycle. ^ The katun coefficient in A4 resembles closely the 

 cycle coefficient except that its forehead ornament is composed of 

 but a single part, a large cmi. As explained on page 97, the heads 

 for 1 and 8 are very similar, and are to be distinguished from each 

 other only by their forehead ornaments, the former having a forehead 

 ornament composed of more than one part, as in A3, and the latter 

 a forehead ornament composed of but one part, as here in A4. This 

 head, moreover, is very similar to the head for 8 in figure 52, a-f; 

 indeed, the only difference is that the former has a fleshless lower 

 jaw. This is the essential element of the head for 10 (see p. 100); 

 when applied to the head for any other numeral it increases the 

 value of the resulting head by 10. Therefore we have recorded in 



1 For the full text of this inscription see Maudslay, 1889-1902: iv, pis. 80-82. 



* As explained on p. 179, footnote 1, this Initial Series refers probably to some mythological event rather 

 than to any historical occurrence. The date here recorded precedes the historic period of the Maya civili- 

 zation by upward of 3,000 years. 



