INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 269 
THe Late Group. 
Comins to the later group, Dates) 10411, 32, 13, 14,21, 22,°23,'24, 25, 
and 26, and probable 27 and 28, although the latter have not yet been 
deciphered, and are assigned here only on stylistic grounds, we find the 
earliest dates of this group are on the disconnected fragments, 7. ¢., originally 
from section ex or yd, figure 37, and in all probability, as we have just seen, 
from the latter. Chronologically considered, all fall in the latter half of the 
Middle Period or at the beginning of the Great Period. It is unfortunate 
that both the reading and the provenance of what is probably the earliest 
date of the group, No. 24, should be doubtful. It is easily one of the most 
important dates on the stairway, being expressed by the very rare full- 
figure glyphs; and its unique character in this respect must have gained for 
it a corresponding position of importance. Indeed, at one time the writer 
believed it was a part of Temple 26 on top of this mound, the high sanctuary 
reached by this magnificent stairway. The glyph-blocks, however, are 
just the height of the other steps of the stairway of which it doubtless is a 
part, and he now believes it may have been the beginning of the entire 
inscription, that is, it may have stood at the left end of the topmost step. 
Almost certainly it came from the upper half of the stairway. 
The next date in point of time, No. 21, although not an Initial Series, has 
all the practical accuracy of one, being instead a lahuntun-ending which 
makes it exact within a period of some 19,000 years. It is 9.13.10.0.0 
7 Ahau 3 Cumhu, the same date as Stela J, by which time, the writer 
believes, the laying out of the terraces around the Great Plaza was completed. 
Eight years later, toward the close of Katun 13, occurs the first (or last) 
date on the stairway, namely, No. 100n the bottom step. This is the only 
date of the late group on the steps im situ, or probably indeed on the entire 
lower half of the stairway, for which reason it is all the more important. 
Being on the first step built, it probably indicates the date on which the con- 
struction of the stairway was actually started. Gordon has already sug- 
gested this (1902, p. 185), but misreads the Initial Series as 11.13.9.14.9 
12 Muluc 7 Muan instead of 9.13.18.17.9 12 Muluc 7 Muan, making a 
corresponding difference of nearly 800 years in the age of the stairway and 
assigning it to a period now known to have been long subsequent to the 
abandonment of the city. The first step actually begins with the terminal 
day of this Initial Series, 12 Muluc. 
Katun 14 is represented by two dates, Nos. 22 and 25, the former being 
the starting-point of the Secondary Series leading to the highly important 
date 9.15.6.14.6 6 Cimi 4 Tzec, of possible historical significance. ‘The three 
doubtful dates, Nos. 26, 27, and 28, may probably be referred to the early 
part of Katun 15. 
It is important to note that the three latest dates yet found on the stair- 
way, Nos. 13, 14, and 11—the last, an Initial Series 9.15.12.10.10, being 
the latest—are found in section fg, figure 37, 7. ¢., on steps in sequence but 
