K&L.p61.#4.1&2&3                                                              IC.p16.pdfp20.#6.1              

piktun                                                                                     piktun                                

 

                                                                                               

Graham                                    Coll-1                                         Schele                                   Schele                                 Schele

NAR Altar 1 A8                        PAL Temple 14 H1                   PAL TI WT C12                     PAL TI WT F11                   PAL TI WT H7

2.piktun                                    18.<piktun:ya>                         1.<piktun:?>                        13.<piktun:?>                    1.<piktun:<[la]ta>>

 

                                                                              

IC.p16.pdfp20.#6.2                     Boot-HH.p23.pdfp23.#2.1&2                   Montgomery = Coll-1                 

                                                                                                                              YAX HS2 Step 7 L2

Piktu n                                           piktun                                                           13.piktun                                         

 

·     Variants (2):

o A. Abstract:

§ Top: to-like element (but not to).

§ Bottom: abstract variant of PIK.

o B. Head:

§ Top: to-like element (but not to).

§ Bottom: head variant of PIK (bird-head with hand-jaw).

·     This is one calendar unit above PIK/PIH, i.e. it consists of 20 PIK’s. It is known that this calendar unit is not pronounced piktun – that is just a name used by epigraphers for convenience. While it’s not entirely clear whether it is of itself a logogram or if it’s a compound with PIK/PIH as part of it, the structure of the three higher units (piktun, kalabtun, and kinchiltun) – all with PIK/PIH at the bottom – suggests that it’s the latter.

·     What distinguishes piktun from pik is the element at the top, which resembles the reduced variant of to. However, it is not to:

o Instead, it’s a left and right feeler or flames or a small shrub (for example in K&L.p61.#4.1), with a single dot protector.

§ In contrast, each of the feelers of to generally has their own protector, even if there is sometimes a single, overarching protector for the protectors themselves).

§ Furthermore, the feelers of to are very similar to one another – just a single vertical part and a round curl – and they either face in the same direction or are mirror images. In contrast, the “flames” or “leaves” of the element at the top of piktun are different from one another, with the left scroll “curled in” and the right scroll more of a “wave” (and with a single protector for the whole element).

o This was assigned the code T42 by Thompson.

§ T42 corresponds to MHD.1G8 and Bonn’s 0042bt/0042bv.

§ Both MHD and Bonn do not assign a reading to this glyph.

§ See T42/MHD.1G8/0042bt/0042bv for more information.

·     Boot-HH.p23.pdfp23.para4 (on the head variant): This is the celamorphic [head] variant of the calendrical period piktuun (or «pictun») in the Initial Series (Thompson 1950: Figure 27, Nos. 1-2; compare to Thompson 1950: Figure 26, Nos. 8-14); its original Classic Maya name is unknown, as the superfix T42 remains without a decipherment.

·     Summary of the calendar units:

o The 5 smallest and most basic units are: K’IN, WINIK, HAAB, WINIKHAAB (katun), PIK/PIH (baktun).

§ K’atun: this is an elided form of k’al-tuun = 20 years, with the -l- dropped. [Reference: TOK-lecture, exact reference lost.]

§ Bak’tun is a completely fictive name with no basis in the glyphs, as the word or root ba- (as an original or corrupted form) meaning “400” is not known in any modern Mayan language – it’s just a convenient term which was adopted in the early years of Maya epigraphy. [Reference: TOK-lecture, exact reference lost.]

o There are 3 higher units which are not common, but not extremely rare either:

§ They are piktun, kalabtun, kinchiltun.

§ They are given in IC.p16 & K&L.p61. They are not given in K&H, BMM9, 25EMC, EB.

§ They are also given in TMHW.pdfp416 along with glyph examples, but kalabtun and kinchiltun are given together, with their glyphs not separated.

§ The terms used as not the Classic Maya names but are nicknames given by epigraphers, for ease of reference.

§ All three seem to have the 2-KAWAK element / PIK as a component at the bottom.

o There are even higher units which are extremely rare. As far as I know, only one higher unit – alawtun – has been given a nickname by epigraphers.

§ Alawtun is the highest known unit with a nickname: