INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 257 
Long Count, and by referring to Goodman’s tables it will be found that the 
only place in Cycle 9 where 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu stood at the end of a lahuntun 
was 9.13.10.0.0. The date 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu, moreover, can not end a 
lahuntun elsewhere in Maya chronology until after a lapse of nearly 19,000 
years either before or after 9.13.10.0.0, which may therefore be accepted 
as its corresponding Initial Series. 
Dates 22 anp 23. 
Dates 22 and 23, with the number connecting them, constitute a Second- 
ary Series. (See figure 40, and Gordon, 1902, plate 12, F, first and second 
blocks.) ‘These dates are presented upon two consecutive stones, and from 
a historical point of view, one of them, Date 23, is possibly the most impor- 
tant in the entire range of the Copan inscriptions, giving, as it does, a 
chronological point of contact with another Maya city. 



Fic. 40.—Dates 22 and 23 from the Hieroglyphic Stairway. 
This series opens with the glyph, aa, usually introducing Secondary 
Series (see figure 40), which is followed by 11.14.6 in ab-Bb. In ca is a sign 
of unknown meaning, usually associated with the Secondary Series, and in 
cb the day, 11 Ahau, and finally in pa is an ending-sign with the sign in ca 
repeated. Following the precedent established in Dates 12 and 13, where 
the day 12 Oc was repeated to show the starting-point of the count, it seems 
probable that 11 Ahau is recorded here to show that 11.14.6 is to be counted 
therefrom. If this is done the day reached will be found to be 6 Cimi, which 
is actually recorded in the next glyph but one after 11 Ahau. (See bd, 
figure 40.) Following 6 Cimi, at £, is 4 Tzec, which it is reasonable to con- 
clude is the month corresponding to this day. Now, counting our Secondary 
Series 11.14.6 back from 6 Cimi 4 Tzec, the starting-point of our count will 
be found to have been 11 Ahau 18 Zac. We therefore have recorded here a 
number, 11.14.6, which, if counted forward from 11 Ahau 18 Zac, will reach 
6 Cimi 4 Tzec. 
In the majority of such cases, the count either starts from or reaches 
a tun-ending in Maya chronology, and since 11 Ahau 18 Zac is the only one 
of these two dates which could possibly end an even tun, it is reasonable 
to assume that it probably ends some period of the Long Count. Referring 
to Goodman’s tables, it will be found that the only tun in Cycle 9 ending 
on the date 11 Ahau 18 Zac is the hotun-ending 9.14.15.0.0 11 Ahau 18 Zac, 
or indeed for about 950 years either before or after 9.14.15.0.0. It 1s highly 
probable, therefore, that this hotun-ending is the starting-point of the 
