Fig. 69. Initial Series showing head-variant numerals and period glyphs: A, House C of the Palace Group at Palenque; B, Stela P at Copan.
In figure [69], A, is shown the Initial Series inscribed on the rises and treads of the stairway leading to House C in the Palace at Palenque.[[154]] The introducing glyph is recorded in A1, and the Initial-series number follows in B1-B3. The student will readily recognize the period glyphs in B1b, A2b, B2b, A3b, and B3b. The head expressing the cycle coefficient in B1a has for its essential element the dots centering around the corner of the mouth. As explained on page [100], this characterizes the head for 9 (see fig. [52], g-l, where variants for the 9 head are figured). In B1, therefore, we have recorded 9 cycles, the number almost always found in Initial Series as the cycle coefficient. The essential element of the katun coefficient in A2a is the forehead ornament composed of a single part. This denotes the head for 8 (see p. [100], and fig. [52], a-f; also compare A2a with the heads denoting 18 in the two preceding examples, pl. [12], A, A4, and pl. [12], B, A4, each of which shows the same forehead ornament). The tun coefficient in B2a is exactly like the cycle coefficient just above it in B1a; that is, 9, having the same dotting of the face near the corner of the mouth. The uinal coefficient in A3a is 13. Compare this head numeral with A8, plate [12], B, which also denotes 13, and also with figure [52], x-b'. The essential elements (see p. [101])
are the large pendulous nose surmounted by a curl, the bulging eye, and the mouth fang, the last mentioned not appearing in this case. Since the kin coefficient in B3a is somewhat effaced, let us call it 0 for the present[[155]] and proceed to reduce our number 9.8.9.13.0 to units of the first order by means of Table [XIII]:
| B1 = | 9 × | 144,000 = | 1,296,000 |
| A2 = | 8 × | 7,200 = | 57,600 |
| B2 = | 9 × | 360 = | 3,240 |
| A3 = | 13 × | 20 = | 260 |
| B3 = | 0 × | 1 = | 0 |
| ———— | |||
| 1,357,100 | |||
Deducting from this number all the Calendar Rounds possible, 71 (see Table [XVI]), and applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. [139], [140], and [141], respectively) to the remainder, we reach as the terminal date 8 Ahau 13 Pop. Now let us examine the text and see what is the terminal date actually recorded. In A4b the student will have little difficulty in recognizing the profile variant of the day sign Ahau (see fig. [16], h', i'). This at once gives us the missing value for the kin coefficient in B3, for the day Ahau can never be reached in an Initial Series if the kin coefficient is other than 0. Similarly, the day Imix can never be reached in Initial Series if the kin coefficient is other than 1, etc. Every one of the 20 possible kin coefficients, 0 to 19, has a corresponding day to which it will always lead, that is, Ahau to Cauac, respectively (see Table [I]). Thus, if the kin coefficient in an Initial-series number were 5, for example, the day sign of the resulting terminal date must be Chicchan, since Chicchan is the fifth name after Ahau in Table [I]. Thus the day sign in Initial-series terminal dates may be determined by inspection of the kin coefficient as well as by rule 2 (p. [140]), though, as the student will see, both are applications of the same principle, that is, deducting all of the 20s possible and counting forward only the remainder. Returning to our text, we can now say without hesitation that our number is 9.8.9.13.0 and that the day sign in A4b is Ahau. The day coefficient in A4a is just like the katun coefficient in A2a, having the same determining characteristic, namely, the forehead ornament composed of one part. A comparison of this ornament with the ornament on the head for 8 in A2a will show that the two forms are identical. The bifurcate ornament surmounting the head in A4a is a part of the headdress, and as such should not be confused with the forehead ornament. The failure to recognize this point might cause the student to identify
A4a as the head for 1, that is, having a forehead ornament composed of more than one part, instead of the head for 8. The month glyph, which follows in B4b, is unfortunately effaced, though its coefficient in B4a is clearly the head for 13. Compare B4a with the uinal coefficient in A3a and with the heads for 13 in figure [52], x-b'. As recorded, therefore, the terminal date reads 8 Ahau 13 ?, thus agreeing in every particular so far as it goes with the terminal date reached by calculation, 8 Ahau 13 Pop. In all probability the effaced sign in B4b originally was the month Pop. The whole Initial Series therefore reads 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop.
In figure [69], B, is shown the Initial Series from Stela P at Copan.[[156]] The introducing glyph appears in A1-B2 and is followed by the Initial-series number in A3-B4. The student will readily identify A3, B3, and A4 as 9 cycles, 9 katuns, and 10 tuns, respectively. Note the beard on the head representing the number 9 in both A3a and B3a. As explained on page [100], this characteristic of the head for 9 is not always present (see fig. [52], g-i). The uinal and kin glyphs have been crowded together into one glyph-block, B4, the uinal appearing in B4a and the kin in B4b. Both their coefficients are 0, which is expressed in each case by the form shown in figure [47]. The whole number recorded is 9.9.10.0.0; reducing this to units of the first order by means of Table [XIII], we obtain:
| A3 | = | 9 × | 144,000 = | 1,296,000 |
| B3 | = | 9 × | 7,200 = | 64,800 |
| A4 | = | 10 × | 360 = | 3,600 |
| B4a | = | 0 × | 20 = | 0 |
| B4b | = | 0 × | 1 = | 0 |
| ———— | ||||
| 1,364,400 | ||||
Deducting from this number all of the Calendar Rounds possible, 71 (see Table [XVI]), and applying rules 1, 2, and 3 (pp. [139], [140], and [141], respectively) to the remainder, the terminal date reached will be 2 Ahau 13 Pop. In A5a the day 2 Ahau is very clearly recorded, the day sign being expressed by the profile variant and the 2 by two dots (incorrectly shown as one dot in the accompanying drawing).[[157]] Passing over A5b, B5, and A6 we reach in B6a the closing glyph of the Supplementary Series, and in the following glyph, B6b, the month part of this terminal date. The coefficient is 13, and comparing the sign itself with the month signs in figure [19], it will be seen that the form in a (Pop) is the month recorded here. The whole Initial Series therefore reads 9.9.10.0.0 2 Ahau 13 Pop.