INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY PERIOD. 81 
The kins, as, are all gone, except the upper right-hand corner of the 
period glyph; however, the day-sign in the next block, Bs, is so clearly 
Ahau that the missing kin coefficient may be safely restored as o. 
The day-sign coefficient at first appears confusing. The lower left-hand 
corner of this glyph-block is missing, and with it has gone part of the coeffi- 
cient. The same ornamental element seen in the day-signs on Stele 25, 15, 
and g—of all the other stele the most closely related to Stela 24 both in 
point of time as well as in style—is also found in the upper left-hand corner 
of this glyph-block. The coefficient of the day-sign is below this. One dot 
and part of another are still preserved, and to fill out the glyph-block 
properly it is necessary to postulate the former existence of a third of equal 
size below these two, indicated in dotted line in figure 13, a. The upper dot, 
moreover, shows the same use of parallel lines in its interior decoration as 
do the dots in the cycle and katun coefficients above, and it is therefore 
evident that this coefficient must have been either 2 or 3, 7. ¢., two numerical 
dots with an ornamental element between or three numerical dots. 
Referring to Goodman’s tables, it will be found that the Initial Series 
number 9.2.10.0.0 leads to the terminal date 3 Ahau 8 Cumhu, and the day 
recorded in Bs is therefore 3 and not 2 Ahau. The Supplementary Series 
and the month 8 Cumhu were recorded on the next piece below, but this is 
still missing: 
Fragment 1 missing A1-B2= Initial Series introducing glyph 
Fragment 2 A3= 9 cycles 
Fragment 2 B3= 2 katuns 
Fragment 2 A4=10 tuns 
Fragment 2 B4= 0 uinals 
Fragment 3 missing As= (o kins) 
Fragment 2 B5= 3 Ahau 
Fragment 3 missing (8 Cumhu) 
The inscription on the back (figure 13, 2) presents no decipherable glyphs. 
p3 has a well-known ending prefix and cs is a beautifully executed death’s 
head, having all the well-known Maya skeletal characteristics—the fleshless 
lower jaw, the prominent upper teeth, the truncated nose, the large bony 
eye-socket, here filled with what may be a realistic attempt to represent the 
cranial sutures,! and the many small spots, almost invariably associated by 
the Maya with death. 
The very early date recorded upon Stela 24—the earliest surely deciph- 
ered at Copan, and 3 tuns earlier than the earliest yet found at.-Tikal, her 
great northern rival—makes this monument one of the riost’ important: of 
the whole Corpus Inscriptionum Mayarum. Very few indeed are of greater 
antiquity or even equal age; hence the stress here laid upon the circum- 
stances attending its discovery. 


1The resemblance of this eye to the sign for the day Eznab is so obvious as to suggest that there may have 
been some connection between the two. The sign for Eznab may be a representation of the cranial sutures, par- 
ticularly since these lines are wavy. See Bowditch, 1910, plate 6, Morley, 1915, figure 16, and Appendix X. 
This day is very rarely recorded in the inscriptions and its avoidance may have been due possibly to its resemblance 
to a death’s-head characteristic and the consequent association of the idea of death with it, of which the Maya 
stood in great fear. 
