242 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ibdi.l. 57 



In the case of this particuUir text the Initial-series value 9.15.0.0.0 

 might have been assigned to the date 4 Ahau 13 Yax on the ground 

 that tliis Initial-series value appears on tAvo other monuments at 

 Quirigua, namely, Stelae E and F, with this same date. 



In figure 83, B, is shown a part of the inscription from Altar Z at 

 Copan.^ In Al Bl appears a number consisting of 1 kin, 8 uinals, 

 and 1 tun, that is, 1.8.1, and following this in B2-A3 is the date 13 

 Ahau 18 Cumiu, but no record of its position in the Long Count. 

 If 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu is the terminal date of the number 1.8.1, the 

 starting point can be calculated by counting this number backward, 

 giving the date 12 Cauac 2 Zac. On the other hand, if 13 Ahau 18 

 Cumhu is the starting point, the terminal date reached by counting 

 1.8.1 forward will be 1 Imix 9 Mol. However, since an ending prefix 

 appears just before the date 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu in A2 (compare fig. 

 37, a-h), and since another, though it must be admitted a very unusual 

 ending sign, appears just after this date in A3 (compare the prefix 

 of B3 \\dth the prefix of fig. 37, o, and the subfix A\dth the subfixes 

 of l-n and q of the same figure), it seems probable that 13 Ahau 18 

 Cumhu is the terminal date and also a Period-ending date. Referring 

 to Goodman's Tables, it wdll be found that the only tun in Cycle 9 

 which ended with the date 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu was 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 

 18 Cumhu, which not only ended a hotun but a katun as well.^ If 

 this is true, the unrecorded starting point 12 Cauac 2 Zac can be 

 shown to have the f olloAvdng Initial-series value : 



9.17. 0.0. 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu 



1.8. 1 Backward 

 9.16.18.9.19 12 Cauac 2 Zac 



In each of the above examples, as we have seen, there was a date 

 which ended one of the katuns of Cycle 9, although this fact was not 

 recorded in connection %vith either. Because of this fact, however, 

 we were able to date both of these monuments with a degree of prob- 

 ability amounting almost to certainty. In some texts the student 

 will find that the dates recorded did not end any katun, hotun, or 

 even tun, in Cycle 9, or in any other cycle, and consequently such 

 dates can not be assigned to their proper positions in the Long Count 

 by the above method. 



The inscription from Altar 5 at Tikal figured in plate 25 is a case 

 in point. This text opens with the date 1 Muluc 2 Muan in glyphs 

 1 and 2 (the first glyph or starting point is indicated by the star). 



> For the full text of this inscription, see Maudslay, 1889-1902: I, pi. 112. 



2 Every fourth hotun enclmg in the Long Count was a katun ending at the same time, namely: 



9.16. 0.0.0 2 Ahau 13 Tzec 

 9.1G. 5.0.0 8 Ahau 8 Zotz 

 9.10.10.0.0 lAhau 3 Zip 

 9.16.15.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Pop 



9.17. 0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu 

 etc. 



