II2 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
but of the remaining 23, 19,! or over 82 per cent, have hotun-endings as their 
final dates; that is to say, these 19 are in themselves true hotun-markers. 
Of the remaining 4 (Stele E, I, 10, and 19), even although all their dates 
have been decipered, not one records a hotun-ending. Indeed, unless some 
explanation be advanced to account for this fact, these stele must be regarded 
as important exceptions to the general thesis, already stated several times, 
that all stele were erected or at least dedicated, 7. ¢., put into formal use, 
on katun, lahuntun, or hotun-endings of the Long Count. 
It will appear later, in the description of Stela I, that although its Initial 
Series terminal date is not in itself a hotun-ending, it is continued by a 
Secondary Series on the associated altar, which does lead to a hotun-ending 
(p.179). And if this is true in regard to Stela I and its altar, the question 
at once arises, why may not a similar relation exist between Stela E and its 
altar? 
But we have already seen that this altar has the date ? Ahau 18 Uo on 
it, and by using Goodman’s tables, it will be found that only one hotun in 
Cycle 9 ended on 18 Uo, namely, 9.9.5.0.09 Ahau 18 Uo. We are therefore 
and in accepting this hotun as the date of Stela E and its altar. (iS 
In partial support of this reading, it should be noted that 9 Ahau, Sac 
the day on which this hotun ended, has already appeared before on the stela, 
namely, at p12 1. h. (see plate 14,c, next to last glyph-block). 
So much for the chronological side of Stela E and its altar. Let us next 
ascertain where this monument is to be assigned on stylistic grounds. 
Spinden, in his arrangement of the monuments at Copan according to 
their stylistic criteria, places Stela E between Stele 7 and Pwith considerable 
assurance.2. But we have already seen that the date on Stela 7 was 9.9.0.0.0, 
and it will be shown in the discussion of Stela P to follow (p. 115) that its date 
is equally sure as 9.9.10.0.0; therefore, on stylistic grounds Stela E must 
date from some time during the ten years between 9.9.0.0.0 and 9.9.10.0.0. 
But we have already seen (1) that the altar of Stela E probably shows the 
date 9 Ahau 18 Uo, which closed the only hotun between these two dates, 
i. €., 9.9.5.0.0; and (2) that in the case of Stela I, the altarvassocceee 
with it brought its Initial Series up to the next hotun-ending thereafter. 
The analogy here is so striking that it seems necessary to admit that the 
altar of Stela E originally presented the date 9.9.5.0.09 Ahau 18 Uo, and 
further, that formerly it probably had a Secondary Series number which 
brought the Initial Series terminal date of the stela forward to this hotun- 
ending. ‘This decipherment of the date of Stela E and its altar is further cor- 
roborated by the record of the day of the hotun-ending the two were erected 

Namely: 
Stela A Stela M Stela 1 Stela 4 Stela 9 Stela 15 
Stela B Stela N Stela 2 Stela 6 Stela 12 Stela 23 
Stela D Stela P Stela 3 Stela 7 Stela 13 Stela 24 
Stela J 
*See Spinden, 1913, p. 159 and table 1. 
