296 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
In order to preserve the chronological order of presentation followed 
throughout this study, it will be necessary to divide this group of monuments. 
Altars V, R, and U and Temple 11 will be described first as being next in the 
chronological sequence. Altars Q and T, Stela 8, and Fragment E’, on the 
other hand, will not be described until after the monuments dating from 
9.17.0.0.0 (pp. 318-326) have been presented, that is, where they properly 
follow in the chronological sequence. 
ALTAR V. 
Provenance: Original position uncertain. Somewhere in the Western 
Court of the Acropolis, Main Structure. The original 
is now in the Peabody Museum, Catalogue No. C, 15. 
(See plate 6.) 
Date: 9.16.12.5.17 6 Caban 10 Mol. 
Text, drawing: Gordon, 1902, figures 20 and 21. 
Reference: Gordon, 1902, p. 181. 
Altar V seems to be the earliest monument of this group. Unfortunately 
there is some uncertainty as to its exact provenance, although it is clear 
that it was found somewhere in the Western Court of the Acropolis, Main 
Structure. 
The original is now in the Peabody Museum (Catalogue No. C, 15), 
having been brought back from Copan by the First Expedition in 1892. 
In the museum catalogue its provenance is given as “near southern base of 
Mound, western court of Main Structure.” This would appear to refer to 
Mound 11, on the north side of this court, and it is shown in this position 
on the map in plate 6. 
A photograph in the Peabody Museum collection, No. 13, showing this 
altar, casts some doubt on this provenance. This says “Tablet with hiero- 
glyphs found in Western Court at southern base of Mound 22.” This is 
incorrect as it stands, since Mound 22 Is on the north side of the Eastern 
Court, and not of the Western Court. (See plate 6.) 
Gordon, in his monograph on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, figures a draw- 
ing of this altar, but says nothing as to its provenance. ‘The titles of the 
two drawings which he gives of it are: “Figure 20. Inscription on the 
four sides of a small stone table from Copan,” and “Figure 21. Date on the 
top of table having the inscription shown in Figure 20 on the edges.’”! 
Since both the Peabody Museum catalogue and photograph agree (1) 
as to its having been found in the Western Court and (2) as at the southern 
base of a mound, and since the title of the photograph No. 13 is obviously 
incorrect as it stands, it seems highly probably that it was found at the 
southern base of Mound 11, in the Western Court, as shown in plate 6. 
If 22” is changed to “11” on this photograph, both accounts will agree. 
Altar V isa rectangular block of stone 66 cm. long, 38 cm. wide, and 19 cm. 
high. When found it was broken into two pieces. The top and four sides 

1 Gordon, 1902, p. I81. 
