The foregoing Period-ending dates have all been in Cycle 9, even though this fact has not been recorded in any of the above examples. We come next to the consideration of Period-ending dates which occurred in cycles other than Cycle 9.
In plate [22], A, is figured a Period-ending date from the tablet in the Temple of the Cross at Palenque.[[211]] In glyphs 1 and 2 appears the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu (compare the month form in glyph 2 with fig. [19], g', h'), and in glyph 3 an ending sign (compare glyph 3 with the ending signs in fig. [37], l-q, and with the zero signs in fig. [54]). There follows in glyph 4, Cycle 13. These four glyphs record the fact, therefore, that Cycle 13 closed on the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, the starting point of Maya chronology. This same date is again recorded on a round altar at Piedras Negras (see pl. [22], B).[[212]] In glyphs 1 and 2 appears the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumhu, and in glyph 3a the ending sign, which is identical with the ending sign in the preceding example, both having the clasped hand, the subfix showing a curl infix, and the tassel-like postfix. Compare also figure [37], l-q, and figure [54]. Glyph 3b clearly records Cycle 13. The dates in plate [22], A, B, are therefore identical. In both cases the cycle is expressed by its normal form.
In plate [22], C, is figured a Period-ending date from the tablet in the Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque.[[213]] In glyph 1 appears an ending sign in which the hand element and tassel-like postfix show clearly. This is followed in glyph 2 by Cycle 2, the clasped hand on the head variant unmistakably indicating the cycle head. Finally, in glyphs 3 and 4 appears the date 2 Ahau 3 Uayeb (compare the month form with fig. [19], i').[[214]] The glyphs in plate [22], C, record, therefore, the fact that Cycle 2 closed on the date 2 Ahau 3 Uayeb, a fact which the student may prove for himself by converting this Period-ending date into its corresponding Initial Series and solving the same. Since the end of a cycle is recorded here, it is evident that the katun, tun, uinal, and kin coefficients must all be 0, and our Initial-series number will be, therefore, 2.0.0.0.0. Reducing this to units of the 1st order and proceeding as in the case of Initial Series, the terminal date reached will be 2 Ahau 3 Uayeb, just as recorded in glyphs 3 and 4. The Initial Series corresponding to this Period-ending date will be 2.0.0.0.0 2 Ahau 3 Uayeb.
These three Period-ending dates (pl. [22], A-C) are not to be considered as referring to times contemporaneous with the erection of the monuments upon which they are severally inscribed, since they
precede the opening of Cycle 9, the first historic epoch of the Maya civilization, by periods ranging from 2,700 to 3,500 years. As explained elsewhere, they probably referred to mythological events. There is a date, however, on a tablet in the Temple of the Cross at Palenque which falls in Cycle 8, being fixed therein by an adjoining Period-ending date that may have been historical. This case is figured in plate [22], G.[[215]] In glyphs 4 and 5 appears the date 8 Ahau 13 Ceh (compare the month form in glyph 5 with fig. [16], u, v). This is followed in glyph 6 by a sign which shows the same ending element as the forms in figure [37], i, r, u, v, and this in turn is followed by Cycle 9 in glyph 7. The date recorded in this case is Cycle 9 ending on the date 8 Ahau 13 Ceh, which corresponds to the Initial Series 9.0.0.0.0 8 Ahau 13 Ceh.
Now, in glyphs 1 and 2 is recorded the date 2 Caban 10 Xul (compare the day sign with fig. [16], a', b', and the month sign with fig. [19], i, j), and following this date in glyph 3 is the number 3 kins, 6 uinals, or 6.3. This looks so much like a Secondary Series that we are justified in treating it as such until it proves to be otherwise. As the record stands, it seems probable that if we count this number 6.3 in glyph 3 forward from the date 2 Caban 10 Xul in glyphs 1 and 2, the terminal date reached will be the date recorded in glyphs 4 and 5; that is, the next date following the number. Reducing 6.3 to units of the first order, we have:
| Glyph 3 = | 6 × | 20 = | 120 |
| Glyph 3 = | 3 × | 1 = | 3 |
| —— | |||
| 123 | |||
Counting this number forward from 2 Caban 10 Xul according to the rules which apply in such cases, the terminal day reached will be 8 Ahau 13 Ceh, exactly the date which is recorded in glyphs 4 and 5. But this latter date, we have just seen, is declared by the text to have closed Cycle 9, and therefore corresponded with the Initial Series 9.0.0.0.0 8 Ahau 13 Ceh. Hence, from this known Initial Series we may calculate the Initial Series of the date 2 Caban 10 Xul by subtracting from 9.0.0.0.0 the number 6.3, by which the date 2 Caban 10 Xul precedes the date 9.0.0.0.0 8 Ahau 13 Ceh:
| 9. | 0. | 0. | 0. | 0 | 8 Ahau 13 Ceh |
| 6. | 3 | ||||
| 8. | 19. | 19. | 11. | 17 | 2 Caban 10 Xul |
This latter date fell in Cycle 8, as its Initial Series indicates. It is quite possible, as stated above, that this date may have referred to some actual historic event in the annals of Palenque, or at least of