The first Secondary Series inscribed on this monument (see fig. 79, _A_) is
at B1-B2. This series the student should readily decipher as 3 kins, 13
uinals, 11 tuns, and 0 katuns, which we may write 0.11.13.3. This number
presents one feature, which, so far as the writer knows, is unique in the
whole range of Maya texts. The highest order of units actually involved in
this number is the tun, but for some unknown reason the ancient scribe saw
fit to add the katun sign also, B2, which, however, he proceeded to nullify
at once by attaching to it the coefficient 0. For in so far as the
numerical value is concerned, 11.13.3 and 0.11.13.3 are equal. The next
peculiarity is that the date which follows this number in B3-A4 is not its
terminal date, as we have every reason to expect, but, on the contrary, its
starting point. In other words, in this Secondary Series the starting point
follows instead of precedes the number counted from it. This date is very
clearly 12 Caban 5 Kayab; compare B3 with the sign for Caban in figure 16,
_a', b'_, and A4 with the sign for Kayab in figure 19, _d'-f'_. So far as
Stela J is concerned there is no record of the position which this date
occupied in the Long Count; that is, there are no data by means of which
its Initial Series may be calculated. Elsewhere at Quirigua, however, this
date is recorded twice as an Initial Series and in each place it has the
same value, 9.14.13.4.17. We may safely conclude, therefore, that the date
in A3-B4 is 9.14.13.4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab, and use it in our calculations
as such. Reducing 0.11.13.3 to units of the first order, we have:
B2 = 0 × 7,200 = 0
A2 = 11 × 360 = 3,960
B1 = 13 × 20 = 260
B1 = 3 × 1 = 3
-----
4,223
{217} Applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. 139, 140, and 141, respectively) to
this number, the terminal date reached will be 10 Ahau 8 Chen, which is
nowhere recorded in the text (see fig. 79, A).
The Initial Series corresponding to this date, however, may be calculated
from the Initial Series which we have assigned to the date 12 Caban 5
Kayab:
9.14.13. 4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
0.11.13. 3
9.15. 5. 0. 0 10 Ahau 8 Chen
Although the date 9.15.5.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Chen is not actually recorded at
Quirigua, it is reached on another monument by calculation just as here. It
has a peculiar fitness here on Stela J in that it is just one katun earlier
than the Initial Series on this monument (see fig. 78), 9.16.5.0.0 8 Ahau 8
Zotz.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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