A reference to Mr. Goodman’s Chronological Calendar shows that the 15th Katun of the 9th Cycle of the 54th Great Cycle commences with the day 4 Ahau, the 13th day of the month Yax, the date which is here given in the inscription. The combination 4 Ahau 13 Yax can only occur once in a period of fifty-two years.
The second example on the plate gives the commencement of an inscription from the east side of Stela F at Quirigua.
The Great Cycle sign (54th) extends over the two columns of glyphs.
The signs for the Cycle, Katun, &c. are not in this case preceded by bar and dot numerals, but by grotesque human faces; Mr. Goodman has discovered that these faces are also numerals, and, although the whole series has not yet been satisfactorily established, the inscription may with some confidence be read as follows:—
| The 54th Great Cycle. | |
| (1) | The 9th Cycle. |
| (2) | The 16th Katun. |
| (3) | The 10th Ahau. |
| (4) | “Full count” Chuens. |
| (5) | “Full count” Days. |
| (6) | 1 Ahau (day). |
The five following glyphs are not yet satisfactorily deciphered, and it is not until the 12th glyph that the month sign is arrived at.
| (12) | 3 Zip (month). |
A reference to Mr. Goodman’s Chronological Calendar would show that 1 Ahau 3 Zip is the first day of the 10th Ahau of the 16th Katun of the 9th Cycle of the 54th Great Cycle.
The third example of an inscription given on the plate shows four squares of picture-writing from Stela D at Quirigua[12]. It seems probable that in these pictures, which are found only on two monuments at Quirigua and on one at Copan[13], we have a survival of a form of writing which antedated the more conventional hieroglyphs. Both numerals and time periods are expressed by human and grotesque figures instead of by the heads alone, as in the preceding examples. The time periods in the example here figured take the form of grotesque birds.
These three squares following the Great Cycle sign denote the Cycle, Katun, and Ahau count, and may probably be written:—