PROBABLE FUNCTION OF THE MAYA MONUMENTS. 40! 
There remains to be considered the Supplementary Series, a more 
detailed description of which will be found in Appendix VI. First of all, it 
may be accepted as proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the Supple- 
mentary Series is a lunar count, and that it never occurs without an accom- 
panying Initial Series. The principal data set forth in this count may be 
summarized as follows: 
1. Glyph A declares the kind of month, 7. ¢. whether composed of 29 or 30 
days, in which the accompanying Initial Series date falls. 
2. Glyph C probably declares the position of this month in a group composed 
of 5 or 6 such months, that is, whether it was the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, 
or sixth division of such a group; and the length of this larger lunar period, formed 
by grouping together 5 or 6 such months, seems to have depended in some as yet 
undetermined way upon the eclipse phenomenon, certainly of the sun, possibly 
of the moon, and possibly even of both. (See Appendix VI.) 
3. Glyphs D and E in some way further amplify the data set forth in Glyph C. 
4. Glyph X declares still further data, the nature of which still remains inde- 
terminate. 
The three remaining glyphs of the Supplementary Series, B, F, and G, 
are constant non-numerical signs, probably having some generalized mean- 
ing such as “here ends the diurnal count”’ and “‘here begins or ends the lunar 
count,” and in no way change the meanings of the different Supplementary 
Series in which they occur. In this latter respect they probably play a much 
less important role than the Initial Series introducing glyphs do in the mean- 
ing of the Initial Series, for in the latter glyph the variable elements change 
according to some unknown law in the different Initial Series, while in the 
Supplementary Series, Glyphs B, F, and G, except for minor and probably 
unessential stylistic differences, always remain the same. It should be 
noted, moreover, that these lunar and eclipse data are given only for Initial 
Series dates, and that except for those very rare cases, eight in number,! 
where two Initial Series are recorded on the same monument, only one Sup- 
plementary Series appears on each monument. 
In summing up all the foregoing evidence as to the nature and probable 
function of the Maya stele, it appears possible to state the following general 
conclusions concerning them: 
1. They were period-markers erected to commemorate the passage of suc- 
cessive units of the Maya Era. 
2. The unit chosen for this purpose was at first the katun, later the lahuntun, 
and still later, at the height of the Old Empire, the hotun. 
3. The Initial and Secondary Series, Period Ending, and Calendar Round 
dates record specific days in the Maya chronological era, and the Supplementary 
Series set forth certain lunar and eclipse data concerning the Initial Series dates 
which they respectively accompany. 
The record of the information given in No. 3 above exhausts approxi- 
mately 50 per cent of the Maya glyphs, and what have we? ‘The con- 
1 Tikal, Stela 17; Yaxchilan, Stela 11; Copan, Stela 3; Piedras Negras, Stela 1 and 3; and Quirigua, Stelz D, 
E, and F; the two Initial Series on the Tikal stela, as well as the two on the Yaxchilan stela, in each case recording 
the same date. 


