In figure 83, _B_, is shown a part of the inscription from Altar Z at
Copan.[234] In A1 B1 appears a number consisting of 1 kin, 8 uinals, and 1
tun, that is, 1.8.1, and following this in B2-A3 is the date 13 Ahau 18
Cumhu, but no record of its position in the Long Count. If 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu
is the terminal date of the number 1.8.1, the starting point can be
calculated by counting this number backward, giving the date 12 Cauac 2
Zac. On the other hand, if 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu is the starting point, the
terminal date reached by counting 1.8.1 forward will be 1 Imix 9 Mol.
However, since an ending prefix appears just before the date 13 Ahau 18
Cumhu in A2 (compare fig. 37, _a-h_), and since another, though it must be
admitted a very unusual ending sign, appears just after this date in A3
(compare the prefix of B3 with the prefix of fig. 37, _o_, and the subfix
with the subfixes of _l-n_ and _q_ of the same figure), it seems probable
that 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu is the terminal date and also a Period-ending date.
Referring to Goodman's Tables, it will be found that the only tun in Cycle
9 which ended with the date 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu was 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18
Cumhu, which not only ended a hotun but a katun as well.[235] If this is
true, the unrecorded starting point 12 Cauac 2 Zac can be shown to have the
following Initial-series value:
9.17. 0.0. 0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu
1.8. 1 Backward
9.16.18.9.19 12 Cauac 2 Zac
In each of the above examples, as we have seen, there was a date which
ended one of the katuns of Cycle 9, although this fact was not recorded in
connection with either. Because of this fact, however, we were able to date
both of these monuments with a degree of probability amounting almost to
certainty. In some texts the student will find that the dates recorded did
not end any katun, hotun, or even tun, in Cycle 9, or in any other cycle,
and consequently such dates can not be assigned to their proper positions
in the Long Count by the above method.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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