Charles Bowditch - On the Age of Maya Ruins

The inscription lately discovered in Chichen Itza by Edward H. Thompson, United States Consul at Merida, is of more than passing interest. It contains an Initial Series of glyphs, which, so far as I know, gives the only initial date that has been found in the northern part of Yucatan.

Although it may be a matter of doubt on what date the long count declared by the Initial Series began, yet, if we assume that the majority of the initial dates refer to the time when the buildings or stelæ on which the dates occur were erected (and this assumption seems altogether probable), we can at least decide on the relative age of the ruined cities in which the buildings or stelæ are found.

The great cycle glyph in the Chichen Itza date is somewhat injured, but it is apparently of the same character as those found elsewhere. The numbers of the cycle, katun, tun, and uinal periods are 10, 2, 9, and 1, respectively. The number of the kin period is a face which, from the circle of dots around the mouth, is pretty surely 9. The day number is 9 and the month number is 7. The day glyph is somewhat obscure, but contains a circular frame supported by a knot, while the month glyph is pretty surely Zac. We can then be sure of the following:?. 10. 2. 9. 1. ?, 9. ?. 7. ?., with the probability that the second? should be replaced by 9 and the last? should be replaced by Zac. Assuming for the moment that the great cycle sign is what Goodman calls 54, we find from the tables that 54. 10. 2. 9. 0. 0. is 6 Ahau 18 Chen (49), and that 54. 10. 2. 9. 1. 0. is 13 Ahau 18 Yax (49). Now, in order to reach a day with the number 9 and a month day with the number 7 from 13 Ahau 18 Yax, we must add 9 days. This makes the date necessarily 54. 10. 2. 9. 1. 9., 9 Muluc 7 Zac (49). The day sign, though rubbed, has the characteristics of Muluc, and the month is shown to be surely Zac; the kin number is also proved to be 9.

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