INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY PERIOD. 127 
From the foregoing it seems safe, however, to make one other general- 
ization concerning the stele of the Early Period which embodies the other 
three, as follows: 
The stela type of monument was used at Copan, perhaps primarily, to 
mark the passage of time; while at first the period selected for this purpose 
seems to have been the katun and half katun, 7. ¢., the lahuntun, toward the 
close of the Early Period (9.9.5.0.0), it was replaced by the hotun or quarter 
katun, which from this time forward for over 250 years continued to be the 
chronological unit governing the erection of stele among the Maya. This 
condition, deducible from the monuments of the Early Period here at Copan, 
will be found to have prevailed not only during the Middle and Great Periods 
here, but also throughout the whole southern Maya field, during the Old 
Empire.! 
The second type of monument mentioned above, 7. ¢., altars, are all of 
one general class in the Early Period—rectangular blocks of stone decorated 
with intersecting bands, which cross each other at right angles, except the 
altar of Stela E, which is round.’ Five and possibly six of them, Altars J’, 
K’, L’, M’, Q’, and possibly P’, have the grotesque serpent’s head as their 
principal decoration, and three, Altars X, Y, and A’, a number of small 
human figures in profile. 
We have just seen that the stele of the Early Period all record Initial 
Series. Now, an examination of the archaic altars discloses the fact that not a 
single one records a date of this kind. Here, then, is an important difference 
in subject-matter between the two. Stele in the Early Period at Copan 
seem to have been used to record the ends of successive hotuns, lahuntuns, 
or katuns in the Long Count. Altars do not. Stele frequently stand by 
themselves; altars very rarely do, being almost invariably associated with 
the larger type of monument. In the case of Stele E and I, the altars with 
which they are associated conclude their respective inscriptions. Strong 
reasons have already been advanced tending to show that Altars X and Y 
originally may have been associated with Stele 16 and 17. So general, in- 
deed, seems to have been this practice that we may summarize the situation 
at Copan as follows: Most monuments of the altar type were originally 
associated with stele, each stela having its own particular altar. 
The name “altar” has been generally applied to the smalle: monu- 
ments found associated with the stele, and perhaps not without reason. It 
is obvious that they were subordinate to the stele, serving in some secondary 
capacity to them. Indeed, it is quite possible they may have been true 
altars, 7. ¢., places where sacrifices were offered and incense burned, perhaps 

1$ee Appendix VII and Morley, 19176. 
2This altar is probably the earliest of its type (see p. 110, note 1) which reached its highest development in 
the Middle Period. See also Chapter III, where it will be more fully described. 
3Although the front and back of Altar A’, which presented these small human figures, are now missing, their 
former existence can hardly be doubted, since the remaining surface is almost identical in treatment with the 
corresponding surfaces of Altars X and Y, which have these small human figures on their fronts and backs. 
