6 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
The quarries were located in the ridge of hills about a kilometer to the 
northwest of the Main Structure. Deep excavations may still be seen here; 
and chips, flakes, and even quarried blocks strew the ground.’ From the 
quarries to the city is all down-grade; the stone itself is comparatively light 
in weight, and its transportation anywhere in the valley could hardly have 
offered any real difficulties to a people as resourceful as the builders of Copan. 
The stone is close-grained for the most part, though free masses of 
harder materials occur here and there. Though brittle, it is fairly coherent, 
and capable of extraordinarily delicate treatment, even with chisels of stone, 
the only tools at the builders’ disposal; indeed, its excellent qualities are in 
no small part responsible for the remarkable plastic art which developed here. 
All factors for the development of an intensive culture were at hand: 
healthful climatic conditions; a fertile soil, insuring an adequate return of 
food and raiment when properly developed; a varied and useful fauna; an 
abundance of potable water; and a convenient and inexhaustible supply of 
superior building material. In short, to become a veritable land of promise, 
the region waited only for the coming of an industrious population endowed 
with sufficient cultural impetus to overcome the initial difficulties incident to 
the conquest of any environment. ‘This cultural impetus the Maya provided 
when, probably about the beginning of the Christian Era, they penetrated 
the valley and set about its agricultural development and intensive occupa- 
tion. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE. 
The entire floor of this little valley, 13 kilometers long from end to end 
and containing possibly 30 to 35 square kilometers, is covered with the 
remains of former occupation: ruined stone buildings, terraces, platforms, 
pyramids, stairways, squares, courts, monuments, broken sculptures, pot- 
tery, and stone implements (see plates 2, a, and 4); indeed, the outlying sec- 
tions of the city overflow into smaller adjacent valleys, such as Hacienda 
Grande, 5.5 kilometers to the west of the Main Structure, and Santa Rita, 
12 kilometers to the northeast. Even the hillsides and mountain-tops were 
terraced, and not only the main valley, but also the adjoining valleys, were 
intensively occupied.” (See plate 3.%) 
1 Galindo was the first one to mention the quarries (1834, Appendix XI, pp. 599, 600). They were described 
by Stephens (1841, vol. 1, pp. 146, 147) and they have been variously noted since. See Schmidt, 1883, p. 8, 
and Gordon, 1896, p. 29. 
2Copan’s sphere of cultural influence may be traced as far distant as Los Higos, 80 kilometers to the northeast 
across the divide in the Chamelicon Valley. The resemblances here to the art of Copan, especially between 
Stela 1 (Los Higos) and Stela B at Copan, are so close as to indicate that Los Higos must have been colonized 
directly from Copan. Paraiso, some 50 kilometers to the northeast (plate 1), where the writer found a fairly 
large site in 1914, evidently had drawn its artistic inspiration from the same source. And even Quirigua, itself 
a city of second rank, some 60 kilometers to the north on the other side of the Sierra de Merendén in the 
Motagua Valley (plate 1), was probably also colonized from Copan during the latter part of the Middle Period 
or early in the Great Period, and clearly followed the latter’s artistic ideals. See pages 381-386. 
3The map of the Copan Valley figured in plate 3 is based upon Gordon’s map of the same region. See Gordon, 
1898), map facing page 141. Gordon’s distances and directions have been accepted as substantially correct, and the 
principal change made has been the insertion of the location of a number of inscriptions which were omitted or 
were unknown when his map was made. Maudslay also figures an excellent sketch-map of the valley (1889-1902, 
vol. 1 of text, p. 15), showing not only the present river-bed, but also the approximate position of the old channel 
and giving the provenance of a few of the outlying monuments. Meye also figures a very crude sketch-map of 
the valley (Schmidt, 1883), giving similar incomplete data. 
