IN^SORIPTION AT PIEDEAS NEGRAS 789

the result in his

own

words, after stating- that the initial series as

Goodman would

read itis 54—0-12-2-0-lG to 5 Cib^1-t Yaxkin:

Iriviril'tiiIII;il

Tilenextthreeglyphsare uiideciphered; thencomesanotherreckoning:

CI ^is the chuen sign with the numeral 10 (two bars=10) above ^it,and a "full count" sign attheside. Whetherthe10 ajjplies tothechuenaordays can onlybe

790 MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS

^{[f.tii.axnM'J}

(leterniinetl hyexperiment,ami suchcxperiineiit in tliiseasesliows thattiiereckon- ingintended to be expressed is 10chuens anda"fullcount"^ofdays

—

^{that is, for}

])ractical purposes 10chuensonly, for as inthe lastreckoning, whenthefullcount ofchuenswasex])ressed in the ahaus, so herf thefullcovuit ofdays isexpressedin the chuens.

Thenext irlyjih 1)1 isanahausign, preceded by thenuiiK'ral Ti. Thisgivesus:

Diiys 12Ahaus(12

X

360⁾ 4,320 10Chuens (10X20) 200 4,520

4,380=12years 14(1

Adding 4,520 days, or 12 years and 140 days, to the date 5 Cib 14 Kaiikin it

bringsustothe date1Cib14 Kankininthe thirteenth yearofthe'annual calendar.

Turningtothe inscription wefind atC2 (passingoverthefirsthalf of theglyph)

1 Cib followed by (the first half of D2) ¹⁴ Kankin, the date at which we have already arrivedbycomputation.

Passingoverthenextthree glyphs wearrive at anotherreckoning. P4gives10 days11chuens1 ahau, andthefirsthalf ofC5gives1 katun.

Da.v.s

1 Katun 7,200

IAhau 360

IIChuens_(11X20) 220

10Days 10

7,7110

7,665=21 years 125

Adding7,790 days, or21yearsand125 days,tothej^reviousdate, 1Cib14Kankin,

itwillbring usto4Cimi 14Uointhe thirty-fifthyearof the annualcalendar, and we^findthisdate expressedintheinscription intheglyjihsD5and C6.'

Passingovertlienext threeglyphswearrive at anotherre(-koning(El),3ahaus, 8 chuens, 15days:

Day.'i 3Ahaus 1,080 8Chuens 160

15days 15

1,255

1,095=3years.

KiO

Adding3yearsand160daystothelastdate, 4(^iini14Uo, brings usto 11 Yniix14

Yax in the thirty-eighth year ^of the annual calendar; this is the date we tind expres.sed intheglyphs E'2andF2oftheinscription.

Itistrue thatintfiesign intheglyphE2^isnot thesignusually employedforthe day Ymix, but thatit isaday signwe knowfrom the fact that it is included ina

>Hecounts lUesidenumberofchuun^s.vmbol,cbuens.

THOJiAS]

SUMMARY

^7V»1

cartouclie,and I

am

inclined to tliink tliat the more usual

Ymix

sign (something likean openhandwith thefingersextended) was inclosedin the ovalonthe topof the grotesque head, hutitistoomuchworn^foridentification.

Passingoversevenglyphs, thenext reckoningoccursatF6,whichgives:

Days 4Chuens 80

19days 19

99

Adding99daystothelast <late, 11

Ymix

14Yax, bringsus to⁽ⁱ AhauISMnan ⁱⁿ

thesame year,andwe find this dateexpressedin F7andFS.

' The last glyph in the inscription is aKatunsignwith thenumeral 14above^it, and a sign for "beginning" in front of it, and indicates that thelastdate^isthe beginningof afourteenthkatuii. If weturntothe tablefortheninth cycleofthe fifty-fourthGreatCycle, fromwhich we^{started, itwill}beseen that the fourteenth Katunofthat cycledoescommencewith the date6Ahau13Mnan.

Itissimplyimpossible thatthe identityofthe datesexpresse<l in the inscription with thoseto whichthe comjiutationshave guideduscan througlioutbef(jrtuitiius.

Summary

Having now

^conchided

my

examination of the inscriptions, I

may

state that I

am

satistiedon the following points:

That

the .signitica- tion and numeric value of thesymbols (each represented in

two

or

more

forms) which

Mr ^Goodntan

^names, respectively, day in the abstract, chuen, ahait, katun, cycle, and calendar round, are as indi- cated above and

must

be accepted as correct; thatthe usually large (quadruple) initial glyph represents the sixth order of units, or, as

Goodman

terms it, great cycle; that certain face characters and also

some two

or three characters notface glyphs are usedas n'lmber symbols. These areundoubtedly the

most

important discoveries yet

made

in regard tothe signification of the glyphs in the inscriptions;

and although they

seem

to

throw

but little light on the codices, tliey

must

influence, to a considerable extent, attempts at interpretation of these records.

The

use of face characters for days and time periods should not l)e

considered as something peculiar to the inscriptions, asan examina- tion of the codices will

show

that this change of ordinary symbols into face forms ^is

by

no

means

unusual. In the

Troano

codex the sjnnbol for the day

Eb

is oftener a face

form

than otherwise, and those forthe da}^s

Men

and

Oc

are oftenchangedintofaces.

The sym-

bol for the day Ix is occasionally radically changed so as to represent a face.

A

remarkal)le change in the Chicchan symbol in order to give ita face

form

is seen in phite 31. lu one or

two

instances, ason plate 23,

what

are

presumed

to be symbols for theahau have apre- fixed face character possibly d(>noting a numeral.

Wo

^pass

now

^to the consideration of

some

other questionswhich are Ijrought

up

by this investigation.

792 MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS

[eth.a.nn.19