HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



which are found not only at widely separated cities, Palenque, Copan, and 

 Quirigua, but upon monuments dating from different periods. Such close 

 similarity cannot be accidental, but must imply identity in meaning. 



The writer believes Glyphs X refer to astronomical phenomena, 

 and probably to definite constellations, stars, or planets, especially 

 prominent in the heavens on the dates declared by the corresponding 

 Initial Series. In this connection it should be noted that Dr Schellhas 

 definitely associates God C with one of the heavenly bodies, probably 

 the pole star, 1 and it is true that the sign for the north is probably 

 the head of this deity. While the Schellhas identification is perhaps 

 based on insufficient evidence, it is not unlikely that God C is to be 

 associated with some constellation, Ursa Major or Ursa Minor, for 

 example, which always revolves in the northern quarter of the heavens 

 as viewed from the Maya region. In other words, it appears possible 

 to identify at least one of the forms of Glyph X quite definitely as a 

 sign for one of the heavenly bodies, which probably indicates the 

 nature of all the other glyphs in the same position. 



This fact will probably be found to have a vital bearing on the 

 correlation of Maya and Christian chronology; for as soon as definite 

 relations between the moon and known planets, stars, or constellations 

 have been established in the Supplementary Series, it will be possible to 

 determine the exact hours in Christian chronology when such phenom- 

 ena took place, and through the accompanying Initial Series it will be 

 possible to correlate the two calendars with a degree of accuracy far 

 exceeding that of any other chronological system of antiquity. 



GLYPH C 



The fourth glyph of the Supplementary Series (see Glyph C, pis. 

 i-x) is a composite character normally having five elements, though 

 one, the ending prefix or superfix, is frequently wanting. These are: 

 (i) an ending prefix or superfix; (2) a head variant numeral, always 

 in the upper half of the glyph; (3) a variant of the moon-sign with 

 two or three small dots replacing the large "eye" element of Glyph A 



£$ always found on the right-hand side of the glyph and frequently 



attached to the back part of the head in (2) ; (4) a hand always found 



in the lower half of the glyph L-— -ZZA ', and (5) a bar-and-dot co- 



efficient which never rises above 6. 



1 See Schellhas, 1904, p. 20. 



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