The dates on Lintel 3 of Dzibanché
by Jens S. Rohark
independent researcher
Uploaded to www.researchgate.net in November 2019
The author in front of Building 6 of Dzibanché. Photo by Mario Krygier.
A few days ago, a very interesting article was published by Dmitri Beliaev and
Simon Martin: “K’ahk’ Ti’ Ch’ich’: A new Snake King from the Early Classic Period”. In this
article, the authors make a convincing case for the existence of an early classic king of
the Kaanul dynasty by the name of K´ahk´ Ti´ Ch´ich´ Aj Saakil, who acceded to the
throne (as Kaloomte´) in 550 at Dzibanché. According to the authors, his coronation
date can be found on the wooden Lintel 3 of Dzibanché, the very lintel which gave name
to the site: Dzibanché – “written in wood”.
I think it is noteworthy to analyze a bit deeper the dates of Lintel 3, since it
contains a very interesting accession date. Also, there is still some controversy about
the correct conversion of the dates.
The Spanish Wikipedia page mentions the date 554 AD as one of the dates of the
wooden lintels of Building 6. So does the official INAH page about Dzibanché. If you visit
the site, however, you can find an explanation table in front of Building 6, which states
that the lintels date to 733 AD. This date is based on Sylvanus Morley, who thought that
the Calendar round reads 9 Ajaw 3 Yax.
Today, the original lintels are no longer in place. Without proper lighting, it
would be very difficult to make out any details anyway. However, there is a very good
drawing of the inscription:
Lintel 3 of Dzibanché, Drawing by Alexandre Safronov, with minor amendments by Simon Martin
In their article, the authors Dmitri Beliaev and Simon Martin give the following
date scheme for the Lintel 3 of Building 6:
Lintel 3 of Dzibanché, date scheme by Dmitri Beliaev and Simon Martin
They do not give further explanation as to how they arrive at those dates, so it
might be useful to illuminate this inscription somewhat deeper.
In order to determine the dates, we have to start with the last glyph block: D2.
At D2 we find the expression u hulij 5, 6, 10 or 11 winikhaab – “5, 6, 10 or 11 K´atun have
arrived”. Normally, we would expect tsutsaj x winikhaab – “x k´atuns were completed”.
However, it is clear that in this case the meaning is the same: a round k´atun date. We
can discern a bar, or 2 bars. Also, there is possible space for a dot above the bar. We
have to reconstruct that coefficient with help of the Calendar Round date in the glyph
block C2. We have a number 9 for the sacred day, and 3 or 4 as a coefficient for the
month sign. The month sign itself is in no way clear. Since it is a round k´atun date, the
day must be Ajaw, and the month coefficient can only be 3. It should be mentioned that
in rare cases, the month coefficient can be other than 3, 8, 13 or 18 when the sacred day
is Ajaw. Stela 63 of Copán carries the date 9.0.0.0.0. 8 Ajaw 14 Keej instead of the
expected 8 Ajaw 13 Keej… The reason for this seems to lie in a connection with
Teotihuacan.
We will check now all the possible K´atun dates and compare them with the
coefficients of the Calendar Round:
9.5.0.0.0. 11 Ajaw 18 Sek
9.6.0.0.0. 9 Ajaw 3 Wayeb
9.10.0.0.0. 1 Ajaw 8 K´ayab
9.11.0.0.0. 12 Ajaw 8 Keej
As we can see, only 9.6.0.0.0. makes sense, since it is the only Long Count date
which corresponds to 9 Ajaw 3 x…
Now, let us test Morley´s proposal. He suggested a reading of 9 Ajaw 3 Yax for
the Calendar Round date in C2. Looking at the Maya calendar program (programmed
by Mario Krygier), we can see that 9 Ajaw 3 Yax never falls on any round K´atun date.
The year 733 corresponds to the Long Count 9.15.2.0.0. Since it is no round K´atun date,
it must be rejected.
Once we have established the end date, we can apply the before mentioned
distance number. It appears at C1 and D1, as 0.0.1.4.18.
9.6.0.0.0.
- 0.0.1.4.18.
= 9.5.18.13.2.
The Calendar Round of 9.5.18.13.2. is 6 Ik´ 10 K´ank´in. According to Dmitri
Beliaev and Simon Martin there are indications that this date might be the inauguration
date of building 6. In the European calendar, this Maya date would correspond to 19th
of December 552 Gregorian or 17th of December 552 Julian. And this is what the sky
looked like:
It is interesting to see that the Pleiades were exactly at zenith. However, this
phenomenon was visible during many nights, so it is not date specific. Still, it was surely
no coincidence.
Going back to the inscription, we find another distance number at A1 and B1.
The K´in position is clearly 14. Winal position looks like 7 or 12, 12 being more
probable, since there is too much space left for just being 7, since the wood of the lintel
has been damaged. Tun position is 2. Therefore, the distance number is 0.0.2.12.14.
If the hieroglyphic text of lintel 1 mentioned the inauguration of the building,
then this first distance number is not counted forward, but backwards, since in the
following blocks A2 and B2 it says chumlajiy ti kaloomte´el – “after he had been seated
as Kaloomte´ (emperor)”. Most probably, we have to count backwards from the very
same inauguration date 9.5.18.13.2. is 6 Ik´ 10 K´ank´in.
9.5.18.13.2.
- 0.0.2.12.14.
= 9.5.16.0.8.
The resulting Long Count date 9.5.16.0.8. corresponds to the Calendar Round
date 7 Lamat 6 Woh. And this is most extraordinary, since it is the very same Calendar
Round date which appears on one of the Kaanul Dynastic vases, as Dmitri Beliaev and
Simon Martin pointed out. I have marked in read the text which says “on the day 7
Lamat 6 Woh, K´ahk´ Ti´ Ch´ich´ grabbed the K´awiil (was crowned as king)”.
rollout of Maya vessel K 6751, photo by Justin Kerr.
This is a very nice confirmation that all our calculations have been correct so far.
If K´ahk´ Ti´ Ch´ich´s accession to the throne was on the Long Count date 9.5.16.0.8. 7
Lamat 6 Woh, then it would correspond to the night from the 20th to 21st of April 550
Gregorian, or 18th to 19th of April 550 Julian. I would like to remind the reader that the
Maya Long Count date is counted starting from midday, not midnight.
Now, let´s see what happened that night! Actually, there was nothing special to
see during the night. However, it is very interesting to see that exactly on that day, in
the morning hours, Venus and Mercury are extremely close to each other. Only an
extreme zoom allows to even read the names of both planets.
This event was not observable, of course, for the bright sunshine. However, we
know that the ancient Maya were very good at calculating planetary conjunctions, first
appearances of Venus, lunar and solar eclipses etc, even years an advance.
To demonstrate that this conjunction of Venus and Mercury is no coincidence,
let us see the same sky one night before and one night later: On the morning of 18 th of
April 550, Julian, which corresponds to LC 9.5.16.0.7., Venus and Mercury were not yet
as close as one day later:
One day later, in the morning of 20th of April 550 Julian, which corresponds to
LC 9.5.16.0.9., the sky looked like this:
Venus is already moving away from Mercury. Therefore, we can conclude that
the Maya of Dzibanché chose this planetary conjunction between Venus and Mercury
as the celestial event for the coronation of K´ahk´ Ti´ Ch´ich´ Aj Saakil. So, we can again
see the validity of the 584285.25 correlation.
Links:
http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/journal/1703/Martin-Beliaev_2017s.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20080409131105/http://www.inahqr.gob.mx/Dzibanche/Dzib
-elsitio.htm
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzibanch%C3%A9
www.lacambalam.de (website of LACAMBALAM ACADEMY)
www.stellarium.org
