228 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
usually “future time’’ when it was recorded. In a sense, the closing dates 
on these seven monuments are prophetic, that is, they probably represent 
priestly calculations, which dealt with the future, even at the time they 
were recorded. 
It is to be noted further that the later hotun-endings in these cases are 
invariably of unusual importance. For example, the closing dates on Altar 
S and Stele 8 and J at Copan, Zodmorph G at Quirigua, and Altar 1 at 
Piedras Negras all record “The End of Cycle 10.” We shall see later that 
katun-endings were commemorated more elaborately than other hotun- 
endings; and the end of Cycle 9, 7. ¢., 10.0.0.0.0 7 Ahau 18 Zip, the period 
which had witnessed the first great development and cultural florescence of the 
Maya, must have been a date of unusual importance to which all were looking 
forward, especially the priestly astronomers in whose hands lay the reckoning 
of time. For this reason it is not surprising that the “End of Cycle 10” was 
recorded more than once before it had actually come to pass.} 
A particularly appropriate time for doing this was in 9.15.0.0.0, the 
date of the Initial Series of Altar S, at which moment the current cycle 
(Cycle 9) was then exactly three-quarters over, and the beginning of Cycle 
10 just a quarter of a cycle off. 
The Initial Series of Stele 4 and 7 at Piedras Negras record lahuntun- 
endings, Stela 4 having the date 9.13.10.0.0 7 Ahau 3 Cumhu and Stela 7 
the date 9.14.10.0.0 5 Ahau 3 Mac. In both these cases, however, 10 addi- 
tional tuns are recorded after the Initial Series terminal dates, and these 
are followed by the dates which end the next katuns, 7. ¢., 6 Ahau 13 Muan 
End of Katun 14 in the first case, and 4 Ahau 13 Yax End of Katun 15 in 
the second case. 
If the final date is to be regarded as the contemporaneous date of each 
stela, there will then be two monuments at Piedras Negras (Stele 4 and 3) 
commemorating the katun-ending 9.14.0.0.0, and two (Stele 7 and 11) 
commemorating the katun-ending 9.15.0.0.0, but none commemorating the 
lahuntun-endings 9.13.10.0.0 and 9.14.10.0.0, the Initial Series dates of these 
two stele. The improbability of this is apparent at a glance, and it seems 
perfectly safe to assume that the earlier hotun-ending on each stela was the 
contemporaneous one and that the final one was simply a calculation of the 
priests to show how far off the nearest katun-ending was at that time. The 
final dates on all these monuments are doubtless prophetic, in that they 
still lay in the lap of the gods when they were recorded. 
In the case of Altar S, the particular monument which provoked the 
above digression, stylistic evidence, moreover, is not lacking to support 
the conclusions reached on chronologic grounds. Spinden places this altar 
in the same group with Stela B, the date of which, as we have already seen, 
is also 9.15.0.0.0. | 

1 Cycle 10 is also recorded as a Period Ending date on Stela 11 at Seibal, although the contemporaneous date 
of that monument is one katun later, 7. ¢., 10.1.0.0.0. (See Maler, 1908, plate 9, glyphs £2, F2a.) 
