INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD. 159 
Inclusion side, Ax Initial Series introducing glyph 
A2a 9 cycles 
A2b o katuns 
Aja o tuns 
A3b © uinals 
A4a o kins 
A4D 8 Ahau 
(13 Ceh) not recorded 
Opposite side, Br Initial Series introducing glyph 
B2a 9 cycles 
B2b 11 katuns 
B3a o tuns 
B3b Oo uinals 
B4a o kins 
B6D 12 Ahau 
B8a u-h. 8 Ceh 
B8a |. h. Katun I1 
B7b u.h. 13 uinals = 260 kins = 1 tonalamatl 
B8b |.h. End of a tun 
The style of the glyphs on Stela 3 is unusual (see plate 19, a and d); 
indeed, they are the most intricate at Copan. The design is exceedingly 
complex, and is executed with a delicacy and feeling hardly to be thought 
possible with tools of stone. Each glyph-block is a beautiful example of 
harmony and balance, and each, regarded as a unit, conforms to the most 
rigid canons of pure design. Barring some of the best work of the Great 
Period, the inscription on this monument ts the finest glyph delineation which 
was done at Copan. 
In summarizing the inscriptions on the foregoing monuments (1. ¢., 
Stele 12, 2, 10, 19, 23, 13, and 3), it is evident that, quite irrespective of the 
dates recorded upon them, they present very considerable stylistic diver- 
gences. Thus, for example, the glyphs on Stela 12 are crude and unskill- 
fully executed as compared with the beautiful ones on Stela 3 just described, 
and yet both of these monuments have the same closing date, namely, 
g.11.0.0.0. Again, the glyphs on Stele 10 and 19 appear to be better carved 
than those on Stela 13, and yet the dates of these two monuments are 
actually 100 days and 60 days earlier, respectively, than the date of Stela 
13, which 1s also 9.11.0.0.0. 
A close examination of these monuments, however, shows that the 
observed stylistic divergences are rather those of execution and technique 
than of subject-matter. A study of their glyphic details, moreover, estab- 
lishes close similarities between the several monuments of the group, and at 
the same time differentiates them from all other monuments here at Copan. 
A case in point is the unique use of the fleshless lower jaw to denote o, found 
only on Stele 2, 19, and 3, here at Copan, and nowhere else in the entire 
Corpus Inscriptionum Mayarum. Another example is the portrayal of a 
head in place of the dot element in the last glyph of the Supplementary 
Series, found only on Stele 13 and 3; or again, the substitution of a sign with 
a grotesque head and a coefficient of 9 in place of the month-sign of the 
Initial Series terminal date, found only on Stele 2 and 3;! or again, the use 
1 Altar H’ may possibly be another example of this. See plate 23, a, pb |. h., and p. 138. 
