MOELET] INTRODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 



197 



its authenticity, generally speaking, is unquestioned. The student 

 will easily identify A1-B2 as an Initial-series introducing glyph, even 

 though the pair of comblike 



appendages flanking the 

 central element and the 

 tun tripod are both want- 

 ing. Compare this form 

 w^th figure 24 . The Initial- 

 series number, expressed by 

 normal-form numerals and 

 head-variant period glyphs, 

 follows in A3-A7 . The for- 

 mer are all very clear, and 

 the number may be read 

 from them in spite of cer- 

 tain irregularities in the cor- 

 responding period glyphs. 

 For example, the katim 

 head inA4 has the clasped 

 hand, which is the distin- 

 guishing characteristic of 

 the cycle head, and as such 

 should have appeared in 

 the head in A3. Neither 

 the tun head in A5 nor the 

 kin head in A7 shows an 

 essential element hereto- 

 fore fomid distinguisliing 

 these particular period 

 glyphs. Indeed, the only 

 period glyph of the five 

 showdng the usual essen- 

 tial element is the uinal 

 head in A6, where the large 

 mouth curl appears very 

 clearly. However, the 

 number recorded here ma}^ 

 be read as 8.14.3.1.12 from 

 the sequence of the coeflB.- 

 cients — that is, their posi- 

 tion with reference to the 

 introducmg glyph — a reading, moreover, which is confirmed by the 

 only knomi period glyph, the uinal sign, standing in the fourth posi- 

 tion after the introducing glyph. 



Fig. 75. Drawings of the Initial Series: A, On the Leyden 

 Plate. This records a Cycle-S date and next to the Tuxtla 

 Statuette Initial Series, is the earliest known. B, On a lintel 

 from the Temple of the Initial Series, Chichen Itza. This 

 records a Cycle-10 date, and is one of the latest Initial Series 

 known. 



