214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[bull, n 



number backward and see whether we can reach the date recorded 

 m B6b-A7a (1 Oc 18 Kayab) m this way. 



Coimtmg 210 hackward from 3 Ahau 3 Yax, according to rules 1, 2, 

 and 3 (pp. 139, 140, and 141, respectively), the terminal date reached 

 will be 1 Oc 18 Kayab, as recorded in B6b-A7. In other words, the 

 Secondary Series m this text is counted backward from the Initial Se- 

 ries, and therefore precedes it m point of tune. This will appear from 

 the Initial-series value of 1 Oc 18 Kayab, which may be determined 

 by calculation: 



9.18.15. 0. 3 Ahau 3 Yax 

 10.10 



9.18.14. 7.10 1 Oc 18 Kayab 



This text closes on the south side of the monument in a very unusual 

 manner (see pi, 18, B). In B3a appears the month-sign mdicator, 

 here recorded as a head variant wdth a coefficient 10, and folloA\4ng 

 immediately in B3b a Secondary-series nmnber composed of uinals 

 and kins, or, m other words, nothing. It is ob\nous that in count- 

 ing tliis number 0.0, or nothmg, either backward or forward from 

 the date next preceding it in the text, 1 Oc 18 Kayab in B6b-A7a on 

 the north side of the stela, the same date 1 Oc 18 Kayab A\dll remain. 

 But this date is not repeated in A4, where the termmal date of tliis 

 Secondary Series, 0.0, seems to be recorded. However, if we count 

 0.0 from the terminal date of the Initial Series, 3 Ahau 3 Yax, we reach 

 the date recorded in A4, 3 Ahau 3 Yax,^ and this whole text so far as 

 deciphered will read: 



9.18.15. 0. 3 Ahau 3 Yax 

 10.10 backward 



9.18.14. 7.10 1 Oc 18 Kayab 



0. forward from Initial Series 



9.18.15. 0. 3 Ahau 3 Yax 



The reason for recording a Secondary-series number equal to zero, 

 the writer beheves, was because the first Secondary-series date 1 Oc 

 18 Kayab precedes the Initial-series date, wliich in tliis case marks 

 the time at wliich this monument was erected. Hence, in order to 

 have the closmg date on the monument record the contemporaneous 

 time of the monument, it was necessary to repeat the Initial-series 

 date; tliis was accomplished by adding to it a Secondary-series date 

 denoting zero. Stela K is the next to the latest ho tun-marker at 

 Quirigua follo\ving immediately Stela I, the Initial series of wliich 

 marks the hotun ending 9.18.10.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Zac (see pi. 6, C). 



Mr. Bowditch (1910 : p. 208) has advanced a very plausible explana- 

 tion to account for the presence of the date 9.18.14.7.10 1 Oc 18 Kayab 



' Although the details of the day and month signs are somewhat effaced, the coefficient in each case is 

 3, agreeing with the coefficients in the Initial-series terminal date, and the outline of the month glyph 

 suggests that it is probably Yax. See fig. 19, q, r. 



