| There has been considerable debate about the dates of K'uk' B'ahlam, owing to an apparent scribal error in the calculation of the Distance Number between his birth and his accession to rulership as recorded on the Temple of the Cross Tablet. The great Mayanist Floyd Lounsbury even felt that K'uk' B'ahlam should be associated with the time of the Olmec - an era so distant from the actual founding of the Palenque dynasty as to be quasi-mythological. Based on David Stuart's work with the dynasty of Copan, Linda Schele and Peter Mathews (1993) realized the importance of dynastic founders to the Maya. Since K'uk' B'ahlam is properly considered to be the founder of the Palenque dynasty, his dates should be immediately preceding those of the next rulers, whose dates are less controversial. As a historical personage, K'uk' B'ahlam has been assigned a birthdate in historical time: March 31, 397 (in the Maya calendar 8.18.0.13.6 5 Kimi 14 K'ayab'). |