HISTORY OF THE SITE. 27 
texts, since, from the exigencies of the Maya chronological system and the 
elaborate character of their chronological records, such as the presence of 
several sets of checking factors, for example, an inscription has to be almost 
entirely obliterated to prevent its being dated to within at least a fixed period 
of 52 years. 
By means of the stylistic criteria it has also been possible to correct 
some of the earlier readings. Thus, for example, Goodman! deciphered the 
date of Stela D as 9.5.5.0.0, an impossibly early date for this monument 
on stylistic grounds. Seler? subsequently re-read the date correctly as 
g.15.5.0.0, but it remained for Spinden to authenticate this latter reading 
by means of the stylistic criteria present. 
That the Maya monuments were, as a general rule, erected on or near 
the closing dates recorded upon them is now generally recognized’—that is, 
their contemporaneous character is now generally admitted—but it should 
be remembered that final proof of this important point was not forthcoming 
until the stylistic sequence was shown to agree with the chronologic sequence. 
The writer first began his study of the Maya inscriptions in 1905, but 
it was not until five years later that he began to collect material in the field 
for a special study of the Copan inscriptions. In rg1o he visited Copan for 
two days, in behalf of the School of American Archeology, with Dr. E. L. 
Hewett, the Director, and Mr. J. L. Nusbaum; at this time, however, little 
more than a preliminary examination of the inscriptions was attempted. 
He was at Copan again in 1912 with Mr. Earl Morris, for the same institu- 
tion, when a more detailed study was undertaken, but at the end of the first 
week he was taken ill and obliged to leave immediately after his recovery.* 
In 1915 he again visited Copan in company with Mr. Percy Adams, this time 
in the interest of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The expedition 
stayed at the site for six weeks, when by far the greater part of the new 
material in this volume was collected.° 
He was at the site for a week in 1916, being accompanied by Dr. G. Under- 
hill and Mr. A. W. Carpenter, the physician and photographer of the expedi- 
tion, respectively, and by two temporary collaborators, Mr. W. H. Holmes, 
Head Curator of Anthropology at the United States National Museum, and 
Mr. S. K. Lothrop, of Harvard University.° The panorama of the site shown 
in the frontispiece was made by Mr. Holmes at this time, and was kindly 
placed at the writer’s disposal for use herein. It gives a better general con- 


1Goodman, 1897, p. 130. 
*Seler, 1902-1908, vol. 1, pp. 768-771. 
3The so-called “‘prophetic’”’ dates, like those on Altar S and Stela 8, to mention only inscriptions at Copan, 
are exceptions to this general rule. 
4These two visits were made in connection with a much larger piece of work, namely, the excavation of the 
neighboring ruins of Quirigua, Guatemala. This important project was inaugurated in 1910, and five expeditions 
have visited the site to date: 1910, 1911, 1912, 1914, and 1919, the first four being under the auspices of the School 
of American Archeology and the last under the Carnegie Institution. Several new inscriptions were found, 
Stela S, Altar R, and the inscribed cornice and steps of Structure 1. See Hewett, 1911, pp. 117-134; 1912, pp. 
163-171; 1916, pp. 157-162; Morley, 1912, pp. 96, 97, 1913, pp. 339-361, and 1919, pp. 317-321. 
5See Morley, 19154, pp. 343-346. 
See ibid., 19164, pp. 337-341. 
