In the names of the katuns given in Table IX it is noteworthy that the
positions which the ending days occupied in the divisions of the haab, or
365-day year, are not mentioned. For example, the first katun was not
called Katun 2 Ahau 8 Zac, but simply Katun 2 Ahau, the month part of the
day, that is, its position in the year, was omitted. This omission of the
month parts of the ending days of the katuns in the u kahlay katunob has
rendered this method of dating far less accurate than any of the others
previously described except Calendar-round Dating. For example, when a date
was recorded as falling within a certain katun, as Katun 2 Ahau, it might
occur anywhere within a period of 7,200 days, or nearly 20 years, and yet
fulfill the given conditions. In other words, no matter how accurately this
Katun 2 Ahau itself might be fixed in a _long_ stretch of time, there was
always the possibility of a maximum error of about 20 years in {82} such
dating, since the statement of the katun did not fix a date any closer than
as occurring somewhere within a certain 20-year period. When greater
accuracy was desired the particular tun in which the date occurred was also
given, as Tun 13 of Katun 2 Ahau. This fixed a date as falling somewhere
within a certain 360 days, which was accurately fixed in a much longer
period of time. Very rarely, in the case of an extremely important event,
the Calendar-round date was also given as 9 Imix 19 Zip of Tun 9 of Katun
13 Ahau. A date thus described satisfying all the given conditions could
not recur until after the lapse of at least 7,000 years. The great majority
of events, however, recorded by this method are described only as occurring
in some particular katun, as Katun 2 Ahau, for example, no attempt being
made to refer them to any particular division (tun) of this period. Such
accuracy doubtless was sufficient for recording the events of tribal
history, since in no case could an event be more than 20 years out of the
way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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