·    No glyphs given in K&H (but the meaning sibik/sabak = “ink” is given, just no glyph).

·    Zender-TRGiCMW.p13.pdfp8 has a passing mention to SIBIK:

o “…a small, winged supernatural who elsewhere appears as a personified tree (TE’), and as the patron of the month Pax (SIBIK-TE’)” as portrayed on Sculptured Throne Back held in the Museo Amparo (a.k.a. the Sáenz Throne, after its first owner).

o Sim: the SIBIK-glyph appears on the Pax God’s nose, somewhat like a tag to the iconography.

·    See also http://research.mayavase.com/portfolio_hires.php?image=6580 for the SIBIK glyph on a conch shell (the sort commonly used to make containers for ink). This further strengthens the link between this glyph and “ink”.

·    K&L.p30.#2.3: this is a representation of a split shell, with ink in it (black part).

·    For PAL TI Sarcophagus Lid Edge glyph-block #14 Guenter-TKJP.p57 reads KUCH? instead of SIBIK but this reading is now considered outdated.

·    Iconographic origin: a medium-sized seashell, sawn open to reveal inner chambers which can be filled with ink (lost reference, paper devoted to a shell).

·    Variants (2) – this glyph is subject to quite extreme variation:

o A. Abstract:

§ Top: (optional) “KUCH”: A KAWAK flanked by three touching dots in a triangular formation on each side, each triangle pointing “outwards”, away from the “KUCH” (such a component is also present at the top of t’o and k’o).

§ Bottom – boulder outline always divided into 2 parts by a horizontal line (optionally but often bold):

·      Top: (often) 3 non-touching dots in a triangular formation, pointing up = “upside-down face” – but there is a lot of variation in this: it can also be empty, or have a single or two non-touching dots). Often empty if the optional “KUCH” is present, as this is sufficient to identify the glyph.

·      Bottom – an “ajaw strap”:

o    A single (very slightly curved) vertical band dividing the bottom into a left and a right half .

o    A curved L-shaped band from the ceiling to one side of the vertical band. The band can be accompanied by a parallel band of touching or non-touching dots, or it may be replaced by the latter, or the single band may be doubled (touching).

o    Two touching dots sticking out of the straight vertical band, on the side of the vertical band opposite to the curved L-shaped band. This can resemble the “wood property marker” or can be viewed as the final (short) part of the L-shaped band, emerging at the opposite side of the vertical band, after going “under” it. In SIBIK (in contrast to IB), the L-shaped band seems not to be doubled.

o    Optionally, the L-shaped band may be missing. When this happens:

§  There are 3 non-touching dots in a triangular formation (pointing down), taking the place of the missing L-shaped band.

§  The 2 touching dots on the “other” side really resemble a wood property marker (rather than as the final short extension of the L-shaped band, emerging from under the vertical band).

§  Optionally, the side with the 2 touching dots can be dark, i.e., the background to the 2 dots is dark (representing the ink?).

§  Optionally, the 3 non-touching dots can be dark (representing the ink?).

o B. Head:

§ There is a head variant which has many of the distinctive characteristics from the abstract variant infixed into an anthropomorphic head.

§ The head variant doesn’t seem to ever have the optional “KUCH” of the abstract variant.

·    IB = “bean” and SIBIK = “ink/soot” have many characteristics in common (see also IB):

o They both have an optional top part – “left and right protected scrolls” in the case of IB and “KUCH” in the case of SIBIK.

o The non-optional part of the two (the “boulder” element) share many characteristic infixed elements:

§ A triangle of 3 non-touching dots, pointing up, in the top half.

§ An “ajaw strap” in the bottom half.

·    MHD statistics (2025-02-06) – a search in MHD on “blcodes contains ZHG” yields 16 hits:

o Abstract vs. head variant:

§ Abstract: about 14 hits.

§ Head: about 2 hits.

§ Unclear: about 0 hits.

The number of hits given for each category above is only “about” rather than an exact figure, because these statistics were gathered by visual inspection, with some cases being judgement calls as to whether the abstract or head variant is present (for example, if the glyph is partially eroded). Exact figures are not needed, as these statistics are more just to get a rough feel for the variation in this glyph. The statistics show that the head variant is much more common than the abstract one.

o The 3 non-touching dots in a triangular formation in the bottom half of the boulder:

§ Only 2 of the 16 SIBIK’s have this element (TIKK6580 = Shell effigy vessel, Miscellaneous Text 068, YAX Lintel 35). In both cases, the optional “KUCH” is present above the boulder outline, and so can easily be identified as SIBIK rather than IB.

·    Distinguishing between IB and SIBIK:

o IB shares its optional “protected scrolls” top element with many other glyphs, and SIBIK shares its optional “KUCH” top element with t’o and one variant of k’o.

o The most drastically reduced form – T709, the “boulder” element – could really be either IB or SIBIK, as it has only the distinguishing elements which are common to both.

o The presence of one of their respective optional top elements helps to determine which of the two glyphs is present in an inscription.

o The presence of three non-touching dots in a triangular formation (in the lower half of the glyph) is the distinctive characteristic which immediately identifies SIBIK, as they never seem to be present in IB – they can however be present in the upper half of the “boulder” element of both (and often are).