230 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bfll. 57 



therefore indicates the epoch or position of Zooniorph G in the Long 

 Count, because it alone appears as an Initial Series. In the case of all 

 the other monuments at Quirigua,^ where there is but one Initial 

 Series in the inscription, that Initial Series marks the position 

 of the monument in the Long Coimt. It seems likely, therefore, 

 judging from the general practice at Quirigua, that 9.17.15.0.0 5 Ahau 

 3 Muan was the contemporaneous date of Zoomorph G, not 10.0.0.0.0 

 7 Ahau 18 Zip, that is, the Initial Series corresponding to the Period- 

 ending date here under discussion (see pi. 22, F)r 



Other features of this text point to the sams conclusion. In addi- 

 tion to the Initial Series on this monument there are upward of a 

 dozen Secondary-series dates, all of which except one lead to 

 9.17.15.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Muan. Moreover, this latter date is recorded 

 thrice in the text, a fact which points to the conclusion that it was 

 the contemporaneous date of this monument. 



There is still another, perhaps the strongest reason of all, for believ- 

 ing that Zoomorph G dates from 9.17.15.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Muan rather 

 than from 10.0.0.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Zip. If assigned to the former date, 

 every liotmi from 9.15.15.0.0 9 Ahau 18 Xul to 9.19.0.0.0 9 Ahau 18 

 Mol has its corresponding marker or period-stone at Quirigua, there 

 being not a single break in the sequence of the fourteen monuments 

 necessary to mark the thirteen liotun endings between these two dates. 

 If, on the other hand, the date 10.0.0.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Zip is assigned to 

 this monument, the hotun ending 9.17.15.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Muan is left 

 without its corresponding monmnent at this city, as are also all the 

 hotuns after 9.19.0.0.0 9 Ahau 18 Mol up to 10.0.0.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Zip, 

 a total of four in all. The perfect sequence of the monuments at 

 Quirigua developed by regarding Zoomorph G as dating from 

 9.17.15.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Muan, and the very fragmentary sequence which 

 arises if it is regarded as dating from 10.0.0.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Zip, is of 

 itself practically sufficient to prove that the former is the correct date, 

 and when taken into consideration with the other points above men- 

 tioned leaves no room for doubt. 



If this is true, as the writer believes, the date ''Cycle 10 ending on 

 7 Ahau 18 Zip" on Zoomorph G is ''prophetic" in character, since it 

 did not occur until nearly 45 years after the erection of the monu- 

 ment upon which it was recorded, at which time the city of Quirigua 

 had probably been abandoned, or at least had lost her prestige. 



Another Cycle-10 ending date, which differs from the precedmg in 

 that it is almost surely contemporaneous, is that on Stela 11 at Seibal, 



1 This excludes Stela C, which has two Initial Series (see flgs. 68 and 77), though neither of them, as 

 explained on p. 175, footnote 1, records the date of this monument. The true date of this monument is 

 declared by the Period-ending date figured in pi. 21, H, which is 9.17.0.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab. (See p. 

 22G.) 



2 See Maudslay, 1889-1902: ii, pi. 44, west side, glyphs G4 n4, F5. 



