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Chichen Itza Inscriptions and the Maya Correlation Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

R. B. Weitzel
R. B. Weitzel*
Affiliation:
Washington, D. C.
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Extract

Numerous calendric hieroglyphs of inscriptions at Chichen Itza have been deciphered, with the result that a large body of new material is available for a fresh approach to a solution of the Maya correlation problem. Furthermore, there has appeared a new method of interpreting native time counts which will necessitate revised ideas concerning the chronology of inscriptions, of architecture, of cultural changes, and of historical events at Chichen Itza.

Formerly it was thought that the Maya date 9 Lamat 11 Yax, 13 Tun 1 Ahau meant that the calendar round date 9 Lamat 11 Yax, with a positional determinant 13 Tun 1 Ahau, fell n 13 Tun ending on a day 1 Ahau. This Tun-Ahau method of interpreting a date rested on a fallacy and produced a result irreconcilable with the data. According to the new Katun-Ahau method, the given date, 9 Lamat 11 Yax, fell in a current 13 Tun of a current Katun ending on a day 1 Ahau; this is thoroughly consistent.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , July 1945 , pp. 27 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1945

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