INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY PERIOD. III 
The glyph-blocks are arranged in two horizontal rows, the upper being 
separated from the lower by a deep horizontal channel or groove, and the 
individual glyph-blocks from each other by vertical channels of the same 
size and depth. 
The fragments preserved show parts of eleven contiguous glyph-blocks in 
the lower band (82-12, plate 14, d) and parts of four in the upper band (p1- ay 
Fortunately there is a Calendar Round date in Fibe2 which GE 
fixes the order of reading as being from left to right and jo) 
top to bottom in pairs of vertical columns, as follows: (Aj, ee 
B1,A2),' B2, (C1),D1,C2,D2, E1,F1,E2,F2, G1,(H1),G2,H2,(11,J1),12, J2, (K1, L1),K2, L2. 
The upper half of rib (the day of this Calendar Round date) is effaced, 
but the lower half shows clearly that it was Ahau. The day-sign coefficient 
originally stood above the day-sign, but it is now broken off. Most happily 
the corresponding month-part in £2 is the clearest glyph in the entire text 
and unmistakably records 18 Uo. Compare this with the forms for Uo 
on p. 66, and see also Appendix X. We have then on this altar a Calen- 
dar Round date, ? Ahau 18 Uo, the only missing part being the day-sign 
coefficient. 
Before attempting to assign this fragmentary date to its proper position 
in the Long Count, a slight digression is first necessary in order to lay before 
the reader certain additional data, which have an important bearing on the 
probable significance of this date. 
Heretofore the hotun-endings commemorated by the stele of the Early 
Period have been those of second and fourth hotuns, that is to say, lahun- 
tuns (half katuns) and katuns respectively, and none has been the first or 
the third quarter of a katun. 
With Stela E, however, as will appear later, the custom of similarly 
commemorating the completion of first and third quarter katuns by the 
erection of stele seems to have been introduced.” 
Of the 29 stele* at Copan, which are known to have Initial Series 
recorded upon them, 6 (Stele 5, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21) are too fragmentary 
or effaced to permit the determination of their exact dates, although even 
some of these, 5, 17, 18 and 20 for example, appear to record hotun-endings; 



1These and the other glyphs following which are inclosed by parentheses, are missing. It is necessary to 
assume the existence of at least one more column (a) to the left of the first one preserved (B), in order to have the 
glyphs follow their proper sequence as given above. 
2 The earliest certain example of this latter practice elsewhere is Stela 25 at Piedras Negras (see plate 1), which 
records the date 9.8.15.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Tzec, 10 tuns earlier than that of Stela E. 
3Namely: 
Stela A Stela J Stela 2 Stela 7 Stela 15 Stela 20 
Stela B Stela M Stela 3 Stela 9 Stela 16 Stela 21 
Stela D Stela N Stela 4 Stela 10 Stela 17 Stela 23 
Stela E Stela P Stela 5 Stela 12 Stela 18 Stela 24 
Stela I Stela 1 Stela 6 Stela 13 Stela 19 
There are 36 stelz in all now known at Copan. The above list does not include the following 7: C and F, which 
show Initial Series introducing glyphs but no accompanying Initial Series (see pp. 345-351 and 353-355); H and 
8, which have only Calendar Round dates (see pp. 351-353, and 340-343), 22 and 25, which are too fragmentary 
to tell anything about (see pp. 68, 69 and 69-71), and 11, which only has a day Ahau (pp. 369, 370). 
