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THE COPAN INSCRIPTIONS. 



The majority of the Copan inscriptions are the least profitable of any to the student, 

 as they contain few reckonings or formulas revealing the significance of the glyphs. 

 Most of them revolve about the important date 4 Ahau-13 Yax, and consist chiefly of 

 symbols for periods terminating or beginning at that point. As a bare statement of 

 that fact affords no insight into the exact meaning of the signs, their value must 

 remain an unsettled question until one by one they are found in positions that enable 

 us to determine it. 



Stela A. 



Initial date: 54—9—14—19—8x20—12 Ahau-18 Cumhu. The month symbol 

 comes after the initial directive series, which here consists of nine glyphs. The 

 purport of the succeeding twelve glyphs is unintelligible, though the fact that the last 

 is a 260-day symbol would seem to indicate that they are getting to an even count of 

 that number of clays. This is accomplished by receding 3 chuens from the initial 

 date, which is just 10 chuens or 200 days from 4 Ahau-13 Yax, the beginning of the 

 260-day as well as nearly all other counts. Hence we have, beginning at glyph 15, 

 3 chuens from the initial date back to 4 Ahau-18 Muan. After an intervening glyph, 

 the 260-day sign is repeated — this time not a face but the cauac symbol, and this time 

 not manceuvering for a 260-day position, but carrying the reckoning forward that 

 number of days from 4 Ahau-18 Muan. Here the beginning of nearly everything is 

 arrived at, as shown by the succeeding thirty or so glyphs, most of which are recogniz- 

 able as symbols used in other connections to denote periods of time. Finally the date 

 to which the reckoning has been extended is specifically designated to be 10 chuens, 

 beginning from a date back of the preceding one, being in fact 4 Ahau-13 Yax, either 

 a certain number of score days in the cycle or the initial score of a katun, and the 

 beginning of the 15th katun — to be entirely explicit, the reckoning being from 



12 Ahau-18 Cumhu. From this point to the end there are no more reckonings. The 

 glyphs are merely a list of signs for periods — thrown in haphazard perhaps, but more 

 likely arranged according to a certain compatability, as shown in glyph 50, where the 



13 ahau and 10 ahau symbols are placed side by side. A similar collection of time 

 symbols without any reckonings is encountered elsewhere with this same date ; hence 

 it is reasonable to infer that they represent periods that round up evenly with it. 



BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Archaeol. 1 7 



