INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY PERIOD. 79 
small broken stones laid in lime mortar, the remains of the two pavements 
of lime-plaster and the strata of small broken rock of which the mound of 
Stela 7 was composed. (See figure 19, b, c, d, f, and g.) 
There is little doubt but that this slab is 7m situ and was the foundation- 
stone upon which Stela 7 had originally rested. (See pp. 103-105.) All 
circumstances point to this conclusion. In the first place, Stela 7 was 
found lying on the surface of the ground only 2 meters from this slab, 
presumably just where it had fallen. Again, this foundation-slab is of the 
same general size and shape and was found buried about the same distance 
below the surface as others used for this same purpose elsewhere; and finally, 
certain measurements on Stela 7 itself tend to confirm this conclusion. 





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Fic. 12.—Sketch showing position of fragment of Stela 24 found in 
1916, resting on foundation-stone of Stela 7: a, founda- 
tion-stone of Stela 7; 5, fragment of Stela 24; c, Stela 
7; d, small altar with depression in top. 
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y, 
Just below the sculptured panels on Stela 7 there is a shallow groove 
which runs clear around the monument, the bottom of which is 90 cm. above 
the bottom of the monument and 33 cm. below the glyph-panel. ‘The gener- 
ally accepted explanation of this is that the stone or concrete flooring of 
the court where this stela stood fitted into this groove and tended to lock 
the monument more securely to its foundation. 
If this explanation is correct, the floor-level of the court where Stela 7 
originally stood fell somewhere between the bottom of this groove and the 
bottom of the glyph-panel when the monument was upright, 7. ¢., between 
go cm. and 1.23 meters from the bottom of the monument. Returning once 
more to the foundation-slab under Stela 24, its top surface was found to be 
1.02 meters below the present level of the ground, that is to say, the top of 
