Fig. 82. The Initial Series on Stela E (east side), Quirigua.
The next Secondary-series number appears in B12, plate [24], B, and consists of 6 kins, 14 uinals, and 1 tun, that is, 1.14.6.[[226]] The student will find that all efforts to reach the next date recorded in the text, 6 Cimi 4 Tzec in A13b B13a, by counting forward 1.14.6 from 4 Ahau 13 Yax in B11, the date next preceding this number, will prove unsuccessful. However, by counting backward 1.14.6 from 6 Cimi 4 Tzec, he will find the date from which the count proceeds is 10 Ahau 8 Chen, though this latter date is nowhere recorded in this text. We have seen elsewhere, on Stela F for example (pl. [19], A, B), that the date 6 Cimi 4 Tzec corresponded to the Initial-series number 9.15.6.14.6; consequently, we may calculate the position of the unrecorded
date 10 Ahau 8 Chen in the Long Count from this known Initial Series, by subtracting[[227]] 1.14.6 from it:
| 9. | 15. | 6. | 14. | 6 | 06 Cimi 4 Tzec |
| 1. | 14. | 6 | |||
| 9. | 15. | 5. | 0. | 0 | 10 Ahau 8 Chen |
We now see that there are 5 tuns, that is, 1 hotun, not recorded here, namely, the hotun from 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax, to 9.15.5.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Chen, and further, that the Secondary-series number 1.14.6 in B12 is counted from the unexpressed date 10 Ahau 8 Chen to reach the terminal date 6 Cimi 4 Tzec recorded in A13b B13a.
The next Secondary-series number appears in A14b B14 and consists of 15 kins, 16 uinals, 1 tun, and 1 katun, that is, 1.1.16.15. As in the preceding case, however, all efforts to reach the date following this number, 11 Imix 19 Muan in A15b B15a, by counting it forward from 6 Cimi 4 Tzec, the date next preceding it in the text, will prove unavailing. As before, it is necessary to count it backward from 11 Imix 19 Muan to determine the starting point. Performing this operation, the starting point will be found to be the date 7 Cimi 9 Zotz. Since neither of these two dates, 11 Imix 19 Muan and 7 Cimi 9 Zotz, occurs elsewhere at Quirigua, we must leave their corresponding Initial-series values indeterminate for the present.
The last Secondary Series in this text is recorded in A17b B17a and consists of 19 kins,[[228]] 4 uinals, and 8 tuns. Reducing this number to units of the first order and counting it forward from the date next preceding it in the text, 11 Imix 19 Muan in A15b B15a, the terminal date reached will be 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu, which the student will find recorded in A18. Compare the month sign with figure [19], g', h'. But immediately following this date in B18a is Katun 17 and in the upper part of B18b the hand-denoting ending. These glyphs A18 and B18 would seem to indicate, therefore, that Katun 17 came to an end on the date 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu. That they do, may be proved beyond all doubt by changing this period ending into its corresponding Initial-series number 9.17.0.0.0 and solving for the terminal date. This will be found to be 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu, which is recorded in A18. This latter date, therefore, had the following position in the Long Count: 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu. But having determined the position of this latter date in the Long Count, that is, its Initial-series value, it is now possible to fix the positions of the two dates 11 Imix 19 Muan and 7 Cimi 9 Zotz, which we were obliged to leave indeterminate above. Since the date 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu was derived
by counting forward 8.4.19 from 11 Imix 19 Muan, the Initial-series value of the latter may be calculated by subtracting 8.4.19 from the Initial-series value of the former:
| 9. | 17. | 0. | 0. | 0 | 13 Ahau 18 Cumhu |
| 8. | 4. | 19 | |||
| 9. | 16. | 11. | 13. | 1 | 11 Imix 19 Muan |
And since the date 11 Imix 19 Muan was reached by counting forward 1.1.16.15 from 7 Cimi 9 Zotz, the Initial-series value of the latter may be calculated by subtracting 1.1.16.15 from the now known Initial-series value of the former: