INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 265 
7 uinals and then follow 15 tuns, 1 katun, and then in the next glyph but one, 
which is also the last, the day 7 Lamat. ‘The day-sign is expressed by the 
Venus variant, shown as the full Venus sign Other fragmentary 
dates occur here and there, but such readings as might be suggested are 
purely speculative. Long-continued work on the GE spot would undoubt- 
edly result in the fitting together of some of these fragmentary dates, but 
anything like a complete restoration of the stairway now appears impossible, 
first because there seems to have been no regular sequence in the order of 
the glyphs after the Supplementary Series; secondly, because so many of the 
joints between the stones fall in the inter-glyph spaces. 
Even an incomplete study of the fragments of this truly remarkable 
inscription, however, yields interesting results. Thus, for example, it is 
evident that artistic considerations weighed heavily in glyphic delineation 
here. Old practices and conventions were discarded in the effort to elimi- 
nate repetition and avoid monotony. On a block in the Peabody Museum 
already described in connection with Date 26 (see figure 41), the coefficient 
3 is shown with two decorative elements on either side of the central dot 
OMORO , a unique example of its kind in the entire range of the Maya writ- 
ing. Again, in the day coefficient of Date 27 (see plate 26, f) the number 7 
is shown as two dots and one bar, but with two decorative elements flanking 
the dots, instead of one standing between, as in every other example of this 
number FS00e - These and other oddities of glyph delineation might be 
pointed out. They probably resulted from the desire to escape 
from monotony in the treatment of numerical elements, which in turn was 
prompted by esthetic considerations. 
Before attempting to analyze the possible significance of the several dates 
deciphered above, let us first tabulate them (see page 266). The dates on the 
steps in situ, ce, figure 37, are given first, Nos. 1 to 10 inclusive. Then follow 
the dates on the steps in sequence but not 7m situ, fg (1. ¢., xy), figure 37, Nos. 
11 to 14, inclusive. Next come the dates on disconnected fragments lettered 
as a and JB, those lettered a being from section ex, figure 37, and those 
lettered b being from section yd, figure 37, 7. ¢., from toward the top of the 
stairway. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE DaTEs. 
An examination of the following table discloses at the outset that we have 
here two entirely different groups of dates, one early, the other late. The 
first group is composed of Dates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 15, 16, 17, and 18, all of 
which are in the Early Period; and the second, of Dates 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 
14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, all of which are in the Middle and Great 
Periods. Of the five remaining dates yet to be deciphered, three, Nos. 6, 
19, and 20, on stylistic grounds doubtless belong to the early group, and 
two, Nos. 27 and 28, to the late group. 
