INSCRIPTIONS OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD. 205 
Maudslay probably refers to Stela 5 in his introduction in the following 
passage: “There is a broken monolith lying in the scrub to the north of the 
track to Cachapa.”! (See plate 3.) This could hardly refer to Stela 6, the 
only other stela in this vicinity, since Stela 6 was still unbroken when Gordon 
first visited Copan several years after Maudslay was there.? Stela 5 is in 
fact shattered into a number of pieces, most of which fortunately have been 
recovered. The most important piece, that presenting the beginning of the 
Initial Series, was found by Spinden, as already noted (p. 164), in 1912, 
built into the stone wall on the south side of the road leading from the village 
to the Main Structure about opposite the monument. At this point there is 
a confused jumble of sculptured fragments, the wreckage of Stela 5 and its 
two altars, and when the wall was built this broken material was incorporated 
in it. Notwithstanding the fact that in 1916 the writer made a thorough 
examination of the stones in this wall for a distance of 125 meters, 7. ¢., 63 
meters each way from the stela, not a piece of it was found, and it is possible 
that the fragment still missing was broken into very small pieces, which are 
now unrecognizable. However, Spinden’s fortunate discovery of the piece 
presenting the Initial Series, together with the writer’s discovery of a Sec- 
ondary Series on the opposite side, makes possible very close, if not indeed 
exact, dating of the monument. 
The front and back of Stela 5 are sculptured with human figures, one 
having a grotesque and the othera human face. According to Gordon, these 
faced east and west.’ The narrow north and south sides each have a single 
column of 10 glyph-blocks, making a total of 20 for the entire text. On the 
basis of this arrangement of the design, Stela 5 may be assigned to Class 5 
the second example of this class thus far encountered, Stela 3 being the first. 
Facing the figure with the human face, the Initial Series is presented on the 
left side. (See plate 19, c.) 
The Initial Series introducing glyph is at a1. The next glyph, a2 u. h., 
is doubtless 9 cycles. The coefficient is badly effaced, although sufficient 
remains to show that it was a normal type of the human head. The cycle- 
sign is a human head with the clasped hand on the lower jaw. The lower 
half of a2 is clearer. The normal form of the katun-sign shows unmistakably 
in A2b |. h., and its coefficient in a2a |. h. is one of the two head-variants for 
13. (See Bowditch, 1910, plate 16, or Morley, 1915, figure 52.) 
The tun coefficient a3a u. h., although it is better preserved, is less 
certain. The fleshless lower jaw appears, clearly denoting that the number 
is above 10, but the upper part of the head is indistinct, rendering identifica- 
tion difficult. The square irid would appear to indicate 14. (Compare this 
glyph with Bowditch, 1910, plate 16, or Morley, 1915, figure 53.) 
The uinal-sign appears in a3) |. h., but following this there is a 
break, the missing fragment having two and a quarter glyph-blocks, a3a 
|. h., a4, and as, including the uinal coefficient. a4 u. h. was doubtless the 



1Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1 of text, p. 16. 2 Gordon, 1896, plate 7. Plbed spi 35s 
