INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY PERIOD. 77 
The Tuxtla Statuette, a small anthropomorphic figure about 16.5 cm. 
high and 9.5 cm. in diameter at the base, is also of nephrite. It presents a 
still earlier Cycle 8 Initial Series, namely, 8.6.2.4.17, which antedates Stela 
24 at Copan and Stela 3 at Tikal by more than 300 years, and Stela 9 at 
Uaxactun by about 150 years. Here again the outlines of the glyphs are 
still more irregular and sketchy. (See figure 63.) 
The first glyph on this figure, a1, probably the Initial Series intro- 
ducing glyph, illustrates the extreme of irregularity in glyphic outline; 
indeed, there appears to have been only a very casual attempt to make 
this glyph- block rectangular at all.! 
From the foregoing it is apparent that irregularity of glyphic outline is 
the most reliable criterion of archaism in glyph delineation—the more 
archaic the text, the more irregular the outlines of its glyphs. This is 
perhaps a natural consequence of transferring a graphic system developed 
upon wood or fiber-paper to stone, since the earliest attempts at glyphic 
delineation on stone could hardly have had the same rigid rectangular out- 
lines as those made after the sculptors had had long experience with the 
new medium. 
Returning to Stela 20, it is possible that in this monument we have 
the only one at Copan which presents this extremely archaic characteristic; 
and so far as its stylistic position is concerned, there can be no doubt that 
it is the earliest stela, if indeed it is not the earliest monument of any 
type yet found here, being certainly prior to Stela 24, the earliest surely 
deciphered stela, and probably prior to Altars J’, K’, L’, M’, P’, and Q’ as 
well. 
Concerning the second of the two postulates above upon which the read- 
ing suggested rests, namely, that Stela 20 records a katun, lahuntun, or 
hotun-ending, it should be noted that the vast majority of all Maya stele 
do record such endings and that antecedent probability therefore is over- 
whelmingly in its favor.’ 
In conclusion, therefore, it appears that notwithstanding the fact that 
this inscription is fragmentary, only one glyph out of the original eight in 
the Initial Series being preserved, the stylistic and textual corroboration is 
so satisfactory that the date suggested may be accepted as probably correct 
and the stela itself regarded as the oldest monument so far discovered at 
Copan. 
On the basis of the arrangement of the subject-matter, Stela 20 has been 
assigned to Class 3, 7. ¢., all four faces sculptured with glyphs, Class 2 (not 
encountered so far) being reserved for monuments sculptured on two opposite 
faces, the remaining faces being left plain. 

1For a complete description of this most important object, see Holmes, 1907, Morley, 1915, pp. 194-196. and 
Chapter V, p. 403. 
2See also Appendix VII. 
