INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. B27 
There are four of these seated human figures on a side, or sixteen in all. 
The four on the front or west side face a center panel of two glyphs, two 
figures on either side. ‘The four figures on the south side and the four on 
the back (the east side) all face the same way as the two figures on the right 
of the glyph-panel on the front. The four on the north side, however, face 
in the opposite direction. Thus, ten of the figures face to the left and six 
to the right. 
The top is entirely covered with glyphs. These are arranged in 6 
columns of 6 glyph-blocks each, or 36 in all. Including the 16 on which the 
figures are seated and the 2 on the front, there is a total of 6+4+4+4+36= 
54 for the entire text. 
The prominence of the date 6 Caban 10 Mol is again emphasized on 
this altar, the single pair of glyphs in the glyph-panel on the front recording 
this date. This is the most conspicuous position on the altar, and the fact 
that this date is inscribed here is but another indication of its supreme 
importance. We will assume for the present that its corresponding Initial 
Series was 9.16.12.5.17. The inscription on the top opens with the date 5 
Caban 15 Yaxkin in al, B1. This occurred during the Great Period at 
9.15.6.16.17 and 9.17.19.11.17. For reasons to follow, the former will be 
found to be the better reading here. 
The next date, 8 Ahau 18 Yaxkin, is in B3, A4._ This is only 3 days later 
than the preceding date, and its corresponding Initial Series is therefore 
probably 9.15.6.17.0. Following this, at a6, is a number composed of 7 
uinals and 12 kins, and if this is counted forward from 8 Ahau 18 Yaxkin, 
the date reached will be 4 Eb 10 Muan. ‘This date is nowhere to be found 
in the inscription, but the day following it, 5 Ben 11 Muan, is recorded at 
ci, D1. It seems certain, therefore, that we have an error in the original 
here: 12 kins, 7. e., two bars and two dots, being recorded for 13, 7. ¢., two 
bars and three dots in ao.!. The Initial Series of this latter date can be 
shown by calculation to have been 9.15.7.6.13. 
The next calendric glyphs are co, £1, the most important in the inscrip- 
tion, since they tend to prove that the Initial Series of 6 Caban 10 Mol was 
9.16.12.5.17, and also indicate the hotun-ending this altar was erected to 
commemorate. cé is very clearly Katun 17 without an ending-sign, how- 
ever; and p6, £1, the date 6 Ahau 13 Kayab. The natural assumption here 
is that Katun 17 ended on the day 6 Ahau 13 Kayab, but by referring to 
Goodman’s tables it will be found that this katun ended on 13 Ahau 18 
Cumhu, viz, 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau18 Cumhu. The following hotun, however, 
namely, 9.17.5.0.0, did end on 6 Ahau 13 Kayab, as recorded in p6, £1. Here 
we have an interesting though unusual condition. The “Katun 17” in 
c6 is not to be interpreted as ending on the date following it, but was prob- 

1 An examination of the cast of this altar in the Peabody Museum shows the 0 original has 12 kins instead 
of 13. Two bars and two dots are recorded with a flattened >< between the two dots. x This is obviously an error 
in the original, however, since 13 and not 12 kins are necessary to reach the day Ben in c1 from Ahau in B3; 
and 153 days and not 152 are necessary to reach 11 Muan from 18 Yaxkin—a QUU double check. 
