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CREATION IN THE PALENQUE TABLET OF THE CROSS

Columns C& D

8 tun (2980 days)

it arrived

8 Kumk'u,

13 baktun.
[L.C. 13.0.0.0.0 = 13 Aug 3114 BC]

hun tun hal
[and] 1 tun , was manifested

yax nal ox tun
the first three stone place.

Hun-Nal-Ye [First sprout revealed],

[It was on] 13 Ik,

[It] was made proper,

nal
place,

was its holy name,

[of the] north.

3 tun,

and 1 baktun [after]

Hun-Nal-Ye [First sprout revealed],

[he] arrived at

0 k'in , 5 winal, [and]

[after First Father] was born,

4 Ahaw

the completion of

[Then after] 2 k'in, 9 winal,

k'ohba ch'a chan
the image of the lying down sky,

He entered [became?] the sky,

God GI' [First Father].

the lying down of [last day of] Mol
[L.C. 0.0.1.9.2 = 5 Feb 3112 BC].

waxah-chan
the raised-up-sky

waxak-na-tzuk
eight house parititions

the house

[Then] 0 k'in, 12 winal,

18 katun,

pethi wak chan ki
[he] turned the raised-up-sky heart,

God GI' [First Father],

the Matawil [place?]

                                                                                                             Adapted from Schele, Maya Cosmos

Note on Chronology

Cols. A &B of the tablet begin with the initial series (long count) date 12.19.13.4.0 8 Ahaw 18 Sek, 7 December 3121 BC. The birth of First Mother (Muwan Mut) is reported on the initial series date.   Her birth is thus 2440 days before the end of the old era on 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 8 Kumk'u, 13 August 3114 BC.

The temporal clause that begins at top of Cols. C&D is unusual in that it does not count from the initial series date, but instead it counts back 2980 days from 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 8 Kumk'u.   This reaches the date 12.19.11.13.0 1 Ahaw 8 Muwan , 16 June 3122 BC. The event on this date is a birth. Although he is not named in this clause, the date must mark the birth of First Father, whose actions are referred to in the next clause.

4 Ahaw 8 Kumk'u,   the calendar round at the beginning of the current "great cycle" of the long count, is identified here as completion of 13 baktuns with the glyph often used in the inscriptions to mark period ends (usually katun ends). In this inscription, as in others that deal with the mythic age, the long count is reset to zero on this date.

On Quirgua Stela C, 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 8 Kumk'u is apparently the date of Creation of the the new era. At Palenque, it is the end of the old era, but the sky of the new era is not raised until about a year and a half later, on 0.0.1.9.2 13 Ik 20 Mol = 5 Feb 3112 BC.   Both the manifestation of the lying down sky and the raising of the sky of the new era seem to be associated with the latter date at Palenque. At Quirigua, the first act of Creation recorded on Stela C is the "setting of the 3 stones," the hearth of Creation. At Palenque, the "first three stone place" is merely alluded to as a synonym for the "lying down sky."

The last act of Creation referred to on the tablet is the turning of the sky, setting the stars in motion about the pole.   This action also apparently occurred on 5 Feb 3112 BC. Note, however, that it is referred to in a clause that counts forward from Creation to a much later time, though still in the mythic age, when First Father joined First Mother in the Matawil, apparently the place from whence come the souls of the Palenque kings.

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