Some errors in the inscriptions, however, can not be detected by
inspection, and develop only after the calculations indicated have been
performed, and the results are found to disagree with the glyphs recorded.
Errors of this kind constitute the second class mentioned above. A case in
point is the Initial Series on the west side of Stela E at Quirigua,
figured in plate 24, _A_. In this text the Initial-series number recorded
in A4-A6 is very clearly 9.14.12.4.17, and the terminal date in B6-B8b is
equally clearly 12 Caban 5 Kayab. Now, if this number 9.14.12.4.17 is
reduced to units of the first order and is counted forward from the same
starting point as practically all other Initial Series, the terminal date
reached will be 3 Caban 10 Kayab, not 12 Caban 5 Kayab, as recorded.
Moreover, if the same number is counted forward from the date 4 Ahau 8
Zotz, which may have been another starting point for Initial Series, as we
have seen, the terminal date reached will be 3 Caban 10 Zip, not 12 Caban 5
Kayab, as recorded. The inference is obvious, therefore, that there is some
error in this text, since the number recorded can not be made to reach the
date recorded. An error of this kind is difficult to detect, because there
is no indication in the text as to which glyph is the one at fault. The
first assumption the writer makes in such cases is that the date is correct
and that the error is in one of the period-glyph coefficients. Referring to
Goodman's Table, it will be found that the date 12 Caban 5 Kayab occurred
at the following positions in Cycle 9 of the Long Count:
9. 1. 9.11.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9. 4. 2. 6.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9. 6.15. 1.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9. 9. 7.14.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9.12. 0. 9.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9.14.13. 4.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9.17. 5.17.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
9.19.18.12.17 12 Caban 5 Kayab
An examination of these values will show that the sixth in the list,
9.14.13.4.17, is very close to the number recorded in our text,
9.14.12.4.17. Indeed, the only difference between the two is that the
former has 13 tuns while the latter has only 12. The similarity between
these two numbers is otherwise so close and the error in this {248} event
would be so slight--the record of 2 dots and 1 ornamental crescent instead
of 3 dots--that the conclusion is almost inevitable that the error here is
in the tun coefficient, 12 having been recorded instead of 13. In this
particular case the Secondary Series and the Period-ending date, which
follow the Initial-series number 9.14.12.4.17, prove that the above reading
of 13 tuns for the 12 actually recorded is the one correction needed to
rectify the error in this text.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account