230 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
also frequently seen in month-signs, though in such cases it does not appear 
to alter the value either of the month-sign or its coefficient. 
It seems not improbable from the foregoing that several time-periods 
may have come to an end on one or other of these two dates and that Altar S 
was made to record this fact. 
That Altar S is very closely connected with Stele A and B, both of 
which record the same date (9.15.0.0.0), is also proved by the fact that prac- 
tically all of the 6 undeciphered glyphs on Altar S also appear in one form 
or another, either on Stela A or B, and sometimes on both, viz: 
ALTAR S. STELA A. STELA’.D: 
Fa AQ, AII, A13a 
FD u.h. D2b, D3b, D4a, D7a Ato, A13D, B2b u. h. 
FO |. h. AI2 
Gb A12b, B6b, C7a, C1ob, D2a, Diga, D11a 
Ib Ag (superhx only) 
Jb A8sb (one element only) 
In some cases the main elements of the above glyphs are modified by 
different subordinate elements, but in general fairly close similarities exist. 
The text on Altar S as it now stands is two-thirds deciphered, and it seems 
unlikely that the remaining six glyphs can greatly change the general 
meaning of this monument, for which the writer suggests the following 
paraphrase: 


“Tt is now 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax, and the time-period x, 7. ¢., za) has 
come to an end. In another 5 katuns, which is a quarter of a cycle, on QO the 
date 7 Ahau 18 Zip, Cycle 10 Ge) will come to its end, @2® and on wwe the 
next day a new cycle will begin: 7g\ the period y, 1. ¢., also ends on this 
latter date.” 

There would seem to be little room for the record of historical events 
here, and indeed the most we could hope for would be some brief notice of 
conquest, famine, pestilence, or possibly the accession of some ruler.! 
From the foregoing analysis of this text the writer believes this altar 
was made in 9.15.0.0.0 possibly to commemorate the fact that the current 
cycle was then three-quarters over and that in another quarter of a cycle it 
would end, this part of the record being in a sense prophetic. Occasion was 
also taken at the same time to point out that another time-period had come 
to an end on the former date; and finally that Altar S itself may have been 
correlated originally either with Stela A or Stela B at the Main Structure. 
STELA D. 
Provenance: At the southern base of, and correlated with, Mound 2 on 
the northern side of the Great Plaza, Main Structure. 
(See plate 6.) 
Date: 9.15.5.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Chen. 
Text, (a) photograph: Gordon, 1896, plate 6, figure I. 
Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, plates 43, 44, 47. 
Spinden, 1913, plate 20, 8 (part only). 



1 See Chapter I, p. 36. 
2 For other monuments recording this same hotun-ending, see Appendix VITI. 
