298 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
the count here is forward 7.2.11 from 9 Cimi 14 Yaxkin to 6 Caban 10 Mol, 
there is nothing on this inscription which will fix either of these dates to 
their corresponding positions in Maya chronology. 
It will be remembered that the Initial Series 9.16.12.5.17 was assigned to 
the date 6 Caban 10 Mol in the synoptic presentation of this monument, 
and the reader is asked to accept this value for the present, until the evidence 
by means of which it was reached has been presented. If 9.16.12.5.17 is 
the correct Initial Series for the date 6 Caban 10 Mol, the Initial Series 
for g Cimi 14 Yaxkin can be shown by calculation to have been 9.16.5.3.6, 
as follows: 
9.16.12.5.17 6 Caban 10 Mol 
7.2.11 backward 
9-10:75.3.40 ©" 9, Cinnir4.) axkin 
This latter date is only 66 days later than the hotun Stela M was erected 
to commemorate, 9.16.5.0.0 8 Ahau 8 Zotz, an additional reason for believing 
these two dates are correctly deciphered as given. Final proof, however, 
will be forthcoming with the presentation of the other monuments of this 
group. 
ALTAR R. 
Provenance: On the southern end of Terrace 17 at the northwestern 
corner of Mound 18 of the Acropolis, Main Structure. 
Removed by Maudslay in 1885 and now at the South 
Kensington Museum, England. (See plate 6.) 
Date: 9.16.12.5.17 6 Caban 10 Mol. 
Text, drawing: Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1, plate 94. 
Seler, 1902-1908, vol. 1, figure 177, p. 757. 
References: Goodman, 1897, p. 134. 
Maudslay, 1889-1902, vol. 1 of text, p. 60. 
Spinden, 1913, table 1. 
Altar R was found by Maudslay at the southern end of the terrace in 
front of Mound 18 at the Main Structure, which the river has almost com- 
pletely washed away, and was removed by him to the South Kensington 
Museum in 1885. It is very similar to Altars S and V in size, shape, and 
treatment. It is 1.02 meters long, 81 cm. wide, and 36 cm. high. On the 
front is a death’s head carved in rather high relief, and on the back and 
sides, two horizontal rows of glyph-blocks each, 8 to a side or 8+8+8=24 
for the entire text. The top is plain. 
As this monument was removed before the Peabody Museum began 
to work at Copan, there is no photograph of it in its collection. Indeed, 
so far as the writer knows, no photograph of it has ever been published. 
This is unfortunate, as the text is important in that it is one of those belong- 
ing to this group. 
Assuming that the death’s head is the front of the altar, the text starts 
on the adjacent side to the right. This is one of the short sides, as the death’s 
head is on one of the long sides. As only one of the short sides opens with a 
date (the one figured next after the front by Maudslay) the writer believes 
it must have begun the inscription. This date is very clearly and unmis- 
