MORLEY] INTEODUCTION TO STUDY OF MAYA HIEROGLYPHS 275 



are discussing sheds no light on this question. There are, however, 

 two other pages in this Codex (61 and 69) on which Serpent numbers 

 appear presenting this date, 9 Kan 12 Kayab, under conditions which 

 may shed Ught on the position it held in the Long Count. On page 

 69 there are recorded 15 katuns, 9 tuns, 4 uinals, and 4 kins (see fig. 

 85); these are immediately followed by the date 9 Kan 12 Kayab. 

 It is important to note in this connection that, unlike almost every 

 other number in this codex, this number is expressed by the first 

 method, the one in which the period glyphs are used. As the date 

 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu appears just above in the text, the first supposition 

 is that 15.9.4.4 is a Secondary-series number which, if counted for- 

 ward from 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, the starting point of Maya chronology, 

 will reach 9 Kan 12 Kayab, the date recorded immediately after it. 

 Proceeding on this assumption and performing the ^,^ »»«, 

 operations indicated, the terminal date reached will p^ <?Sl 

 be 9 Kan 7 Cumhu, not 9 Kan 12 Kayab, as recorded. ^^ Y^ 

 The most plausible explanation for this number and •P^ • Qjl 

 date the writer can offer is that the whole constitutes *^B •C^o 

 a Period-ending date. On the west side of Stela C at ^s^'||(^ 

 Quirigua, as explained on page 226, is a Period- vLai^'*!!^© 

 ending date almost exactly like this (see pi. 21, H). fig. 85. Exam- 

 On this monument 17.5.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab is record- p^^ °! V* 



•^ method of nu- 



ed, and it was proved by calculation that 9.17.5.0.0 meration in the 

 would lead to this date if counted forward from the ^o^ices (part of 



page 69 of the 



starting point of Maya chronology. In effect, then, Dresden co- 

 this 17.5.0.0 6 Ahau 13 Kayab was a Period-ending '^^''^• 

 date, declaring that Tun 5 of Katun 17 (of Cycle 9, unexpressed) 

 ended on the date 6 Ahau 13 Kayab. 



Interpreting in the same way the glyphs in figure 85, we have the 

 record that Ean 4 of Uinal 4 of Tun 9 of Katun 15 (of Cycle 9, unex- 

 pressed) fell (or ended) on the date 9 Kan 12 Kayab. Changing this 

 Period-ending date into its corresponding Initial vSeries and solving 

 for its terminal date, the latter date will be found to be 13 Kan 12 Ceh, 

 instead of 9 Kan 12 Kayab. At first this would appear to be even farther 

 from the mark than our preceding attempt, but if the reader will admit 

 a slight correction, the above number can be made to reach the date 

 recorded. The date 13 Kan 12 Ceh is just 5 uinals earlier than 9 Kan 

 12 Kayab, and if we add one bar to the four dots of the uinal coeffi- 

 cient, this passage can be explained in the above manner, and yet 

 agree in all particulars. This is true since 9.15.9.9.4 reaches the date 

 9 Kan 12 Kayab. On the above grounds the writer is incUned to 

 believe that the last three Serpent numbers on plate 32, wliich were 

 shown to have proceeded from a date 9 Kan 12 Kayab, were counted 

 from the date 9.15.9.9.4 9 Kan 12 Kayab. 



