INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD. 201 
recorded on the north and south sides of this monument. If we assume that 
these three glyphs stand for 1,800-day and 3,600-day periods in general, and 
_ not for specific 1,800-day and 3,600-day periods counted from katun-endings 
only, it is possible to count this series of tuns forward from the opening date 
on the west side, namely, 9.12.12.0.0; and with the 18 tuns recorded on the 
north and south sides, to exactly reach the contemporaneous date of this 
stela, 9.13.10.0.0, recorded on its east side. 
This so satisfactorily explains why 18 tuns should have been recorded 
on this monument that the writer believes that it may be accepted that this 
series was counted from 9.12.12.0.0 and that it ended in 9.13.10.0.0, the 
contemporaneous date of Stela J; and further, that its fifth, tenth, and fif- 
teenth tuns fell on 9.12.17.0.0, 9.13.2.0.0, and 9.13.7.0.0 respectively, instead 
of on 9.13.5.0.0, 9.13.10.0.0, and 9.13.15.0.0. And finally, that the last tun 
of the series fell on 9.13.10.0.0 instead of on 9.13.18.0.0, as it would have done 
if the series had been counted from 9.13.0.0.0. 
If this explanation is not accepted, and it is held that the hotun and 
lahuntun signs could only refer to fifth, tenth, and fifteenth tuns, counted 
from katun-endings in the Long Count, as 9.13.0.0.0 for example, it necessi- 
tates the further assumption that the last 8 tuns on the south side were 
9.13.11.0.0 to 9.13.18.0.0 inclusive, that is to say, that they either had not 
yet passed, 7. ¢., were future time when Stela J was erected, or else the north 
side was left blank, and they were added tun by tun after 9.13.10.0.0, as they 
passed. Against this latter hypothesis is the fact that the style of carving 
is the same throughout this monument, and it doubtless may be rejected. 
Summing up this evidence, therefore, it seems probable that there were 
originally a series of 18 tuns on the north and south sides, which were counted 
from the opening date on the west side to reach the contemporaneous as 
well as the Initial Series date on the east side. 
In addition to the record of the signs for the hotuns and lahuntun after 
the ends of the fifth and fifteenth tuns and of the tenth tun respectively, 
there seems to be a five-year periodicity noticeable in other signs of this 
series. For example, the sign following “the end of 1 tun,” B2a, is a gro- 
tesque head surmounting apparently the normal form of the cycle-sign. 
The sign following ‘“‘the end of 6 tuns,”’ B6, 7. ¢., 5 tuns farther on, is the 
moon-sign surmounting the cycle-sign and followed by a grotesque head of 
similar aspect. The sign following “the end of 11 tuns,” c3, 5 tuns farther 
on, is the cycle-sign surmounted by the double Imix and an oval element. 
The sign following “the end of 16 tuns,” p7, still 5 tuns farther on, shows 
the Imix sign and the oval. It is apparent that these four tun-endings, five 
years apart from one another, are followed by glyphs in which the same 
elements recur. 
Athough the other sets show less similarity between the glyphs following 
their respective tun-endings as “the ends of 2,7, and 12 tuns,” “the ends of 
3, 8, and 13 tuns,” and “the ends of 4, 9, and 14 tuns,” on the whole there 
seems to be a general resemblance between the signs in each of these groups. 
