At about this time the people made the collective decision to add a layer of gravel to their original adobe shrine—where the eagle had purportedly landed—so they would have a base platform strong enough to begin to build a large pyramid.8 Certain priests dedicated themselves to caring for the temple and began to create painted books for posterity. With their history recorded on animal skins, the priests could announce that the people had reached the end of a fifty-two-year cycle, that it was time to ceremonially “bundle” the years, as they put it.
