INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 253 
It has been noted that the day 12 Oc was probably the last glyph in 
Step P, T, in order to precede immediately its corresponding month-part 13 
Pop, the first glyph in Step Q, a. The day 12 Oc was again repeated in md, 
Step Q, after the Secondary Series number 6.5.10, in order to show that the 
starting-point of this count was 9.15.5.10.10 12 Oc 13 Pop, as the record 
of the day alone was sufficient to indicate the starting-point in most cases.! 
Date 14. 
On the next step, S, there is Secondary Series at M6, N preceded by the 
usual Secondary Series introducing glyph. The kin coefficient is clearly o. 
The uinal coefficient is badly weathered; it seems to be about the same 
thickness and shape as the kin coefficient, and may be o also. In any case 
it can not be above 5. The tun coefficient is surely 1, 2, or 3. The right- 
hand dot shows clearly. The next glyph is of unknown meaning, but the 
next two (see figure 38, i) record the date 7 Ahau 13 Tzec, which is doubtless 
9.15.11.16.0 7 Ahau 13 Tzec, 7. e., Date 13. The day-sign is somewhat 
effaced, but this identification appears beyond doubt. If this is the terminal 
date of the series, and if the uinal coefficient is 0, three different readings may 
be suggested: 
9.15.10.16.0 11 Ahau 18 Tzec isd, L000 2. finale tek Ul 
I. 0.0 2.20.0 
9.15.11.16.0 7 Ahau 13 Tzec 9.15:11-16:0 7 Ahau'13- Tzec 
9.15. 8.16.0 6Ahau 8 Xul 
40.0 
5.641.160 7 Ahau sz Izec 
If, on the other hand, 7 Ahau 13 Tzec is the starting-point, as may well 
be, the best reading 1s 
Wie t160° er Ahawts Pzét 
592.0 
9.15.15. 0.0 9g Ahau 18 Xul 
which also has the merit of ending a hotun in the Long Count. But all of 
these readings are so problematical that no one is to be preferred to another, 
except that on the grounds of antecedent probability the last is more likely 
to be correct than the other three, because it ends the nearest hotun in the 
Long Count. 
From this point on to the end of this section of the stairway (Steps S—A’) 
there are no decipherable glyphs. Occasionally day-signs appear here and 
there (Fb, Step U; Kd, Step Z; and c, Step A’, for example), but these are 
not only badly weathered, but also they can not be connected with any 
known dates or even with each other, and the text is undecipherable from 
this point on. 
This ends the second and last section of steps which are in their original 
order. The remaining dates have been pieced together, from fragments 
found in the débris at the bottom of the stairway. These must have come 

1 Gordon believes (1902, p. 180) that Na, Step Q (his EI4a) is the month-part corresponding with the day in 
mb. A careful examination of the original, however, did not lead the writer to this conclusion. 
