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ON THE AGE OF MAYA RUINS
BY CHARLES P. BOWDITCH
, Vol. 3, October-December, 1901)
NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 1901
ON THE AGE OF MAYA RUINS
BY CHARLES P. BOWDITCH
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 stelae on which the dates occur were erected , we can at least decide on the relative age of the ruined cities in which the buildings or stelae 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 , and that 54. 10. 2. 9. 1. 0. is 13 Ahau 18 Yax . 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 . 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.
There is just a possibility that the great cycle may not be 54. If it is 53, the date must be 9 Muluc 12 Muan; if it is 55, the date must be 9 Muluc 2 Yaxkin; but the month number is clearly 7, which eliminates both these great cycle numbers. In order to find a great cycle with the numbers ?. 10. 2. 9. 1. 9, 9. ?. 7. ?, we should have to go back or forward from Great Cycle 54 at least five great cycles, which means over 25,000 years. This is such an enormous distance that it can practically be thrown out of consideration, and we may be well satisfied that the great cycle is really the same period in which almost every one of the other dates occurs, viz., 54.
It will be interesting to compare this date with the first and last known dates of the other ruined cities of Chiapas and Guatemala. I give a list of these dates:
Period of Earliest Latest Existence
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