MOHLEYj INTEODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 223 



plenty of opportunity for confusion about the number of the katun 

 in which a particuhir event occurred. Consequently, in order to 

 insure accuracy the katun is almost always the unit used in Period- 

 ending dating. 



In plate 21 are figured a number of Period-ending dates, the glyphs 

 of which have been ranged in horizontal Imes, and are .umbered 

 from left to right for convenience in reference. The true positions 

 of these glyphs in the texts from which they have been taken are 

 given in the footnotes in each case. In plate 21 , ^, is figured a Period- 

 ending date from Stela 2 at Copan.^ The date 12 Ahau 8 Ceh ap- 

 pears very clearly in glyphs 1 and 2. Compare the month sign with 

 figure 19, u, v. There follows m 3 a glyph the upper part of which 

 probably represents the "enduig sign" of this date. By comparing 

 this form with the ending signs in figure 37 its resemblance to figure 

 37, o, will be evident. Indeed, figure 37, o, has precisely the same 

 lower element as glyph 3. In glyph 4 follows the particular katun, 

 11; whose end fell on the date recorded in glyphs 1 and 2. The stu- 

 dent can readily prove this for himself by reducing the Period-ending 

 date here recorded to its correspondmg Initial Series and counting 

 the resulting number forward from the common starting point, 4 Ahau 

 8 Cumhu, as follows: Since the cycle glyph is not expressed, we may 

 fill this omission as the Maya themselves filled it, by supplying Cycle 

 9. Moreover, since the end of a katun is recorded here, it is clear 

 that all the lower periods — the tuns, uinals, and kins — will have to 

 appear with the coefficient 0, as they are all brought to their respec- 

 tive ends with the ending of any katun. Therefore we may write the 

 Initial-series number corresponding to the end of Katim 11, as 

 9.11.0.0.0. Treating this number as an Initial Series, that is, first 

 reducing it to units of the first order, then deductmg from it all the 

 Calendar Rounds possible, and finally applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. 

 139, 140, and 141, respectively) to the remainder, the student will find 

 that the terminal date reached will be the same as the date recorded 

 in glyplis 1 and 2, namely, 12 Ahau 8 Ceh. In other words, the Katun 

 11, wliich ended on the date 12 Ahau 8 Ceh, was 9.11.0.0.0 12 Ahau 

 8 Ceh, and both indicate exactly the same position in the Long 

 Count. The next example (pi. 21, B) is taken from the tablet in the 

 Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque.^ In glyph 1 appears the 

 date 8 Ahau 8 Uo (compare the month form with fig. 19, 6, c) and in 

 glyph 3 the ''endmg" of Katun 13. The ending sign here is the 

 variant shown in figure 37, a-Ti, and it occurs just above the coeffi- 

 cient 13. These two glyphs therefore record the fact that Katun 13 

 ended with the day 8 Ahau 8 Uo. The student may again test the 

 accuracy of the record by changing this Period-ending date to its 



1 See Maudslay, 1889-1902: i, pi. 102, west side, glyphs A5b-A7a. 



2 See ibid.: iv, pi. 81, glyphs N15 015. 



