THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION 1 M 



accurate enough for a hundred years, and with the miss- 

 inn; part supplied becomes a part of the normal 

 chronological record. Hut the U kahlay Ldtunob or 

 "record of the katuns", has a cycle of 13x7200 days or 

 about 256 years. It begins with a Katun 8 Ahau, which 

 is identified on good grounds with the important date 

 at the very beginning of Mayan greatness, namely, 

 9.0.0.0.0. S Ahau 13 Ceh. Each return to Katun 8 

 Ahau is called a "doubling back of the katuns", that is, 

 a cycle. Using the katun record and counting back 

 from the Katun 2 Ahau which came to an end about the 

 time the Spaniards made their first formal landing in 

 Yucatan, we arrive at 176 A.D. as the date of the first 

 katun in the Books of Chilani Balam. Unfortunately, 

 the statements of events accompanying this time record 

 are quite meager, but we do find some of the outstanding 

 fact- in the history of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and 

 Mayapan. 



Correlation with Christian Chronology. 

 ( Ihichen Itza is the only ancient city mentioned by name 

 in the chronicles at which an inscribed Initial Series 

 date has been found. If this inscription is put in the 

 first recorded occupation of the city a bond is established 

 entirely in agreement with the one just discussed when 

 9.0.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 13 Ceh is declared equivalent to the 

 first Katun 8 Ahau of the chronicles. 



The day-for-day correlation necessitates the arrange- 

 ment and examination of much detailed proof. There 

 are statements in native and Spanish documents 

 about the ends of tuns and katuns, and about the 

 Year-Bearers which were the firsl days of the years. 

 Bishop Landa gives a Mayan year with its Spanish 

 equivalent . day for day. Then there i> the record of the 

 Aztecan calendar of the Valley of Mexico and the Cak- 



