304 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
0, 5, 10, or 15, as the day-sign is clearly Ik. Traces of one bar appear 
surely and there is room for just one bar more of equal width above in order 
to bring the top of this glyph-block up to the same level as the tops of the 
others, but not enough room to allow for two bars more. This makes the 
date almost certainly 9 Ik 10 Mol. ‘The calculations, moreover, prove the 
correctness of this reading almost beyond dispute. The date 9 Ik 10 Mol 
is only 215 days earlier than 3 Caban o Pop, the first date in this inscription, 
and only 150 days later than the last date on this monument, namely, 
2 Ebo Pop. In other words, it stands between the first and last dates on 
this monument, which themselves record two consecutive New Years’ days 
of the Long Count.” Moreover, the only other possible reading of L5, M1 is 
9 Ik 5 Mol, which develops no such a relation. g Ik 10 Mol occurred in 
Cycle 9 nearest the Initial Series of 3 Caban o Pop and 6 Caban 10 Mol at 
9.15.9.0.2, which is just 10 uinals and 15 kins earlier than the former, viz: 
9.15.9.10.17. 3 Cabano Pop 
10.15 backward 
9.15.9. 0. 2 9 Ik 10 Mol 
This last date has one other interesting property: it is exactly 23 haab or 
years of 365 days earlier than the reading here followed for the important 
date 6 Caban 10 Mol. 1.3.5.15 =8,395 days=23 X 365 days. 
The next date, N4, is very clearly 4 Ahau 13 Ceh, probably 9.15.12.5.0 
4 Ahau 13 Ceh, which occurred just 7 days before the starting-point of the 
second Secondary Series number in I, 1.¢., 9.15.12.5.7, and just 17 days 
before the closing-date reached by the first Secondary Series number in 
Al; 0: 15st 2sGt 
The next date, 01, pi, is 4 Ahau 13 Chen, Yax, Zac, or Ceh. Most un- 
fortunately, the superfix which would have determined this point is almost 
entirely effaced. From what remains of it, it would appear to have been 
Yax. Following this in 02 is 11, 12, or 13 tuns. Now, 4 Ahau 13 Yax 
occurred at 9.15.0.0.0, and counting back 12 tuns from the date next pre- 
ceding in the text, namely, 9.15.12.5.0 4 Ahau 13 Ceh in n4, will bring the 
count very near (within 100 days) 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax. Or again, in 
counting back 13 tuns from 9.15.12.5.0 4 Ahau 13 Ceh, the count passes 
through 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax to’9.14.19.5.0 4 Ahau 18 Muan, which 
latter date we have already seen recorded on Stela A here at Copan, and a 
date, moreover, just 1 tonalamatl before 9.15.0.0.0. Whatever meaning 

1 Another point proving that the coefhcient in Mi was Io and not 5 is the following: the month-sign, Mol, 
in M1 is exactly the same height as the month-sign Mol in the glyph on its left, 11 the coeficient of which, as we 
have already seen, is almost certainly 10. Therefore, if the coefficient of L1 was 10, the coefficient of m1 would in 
all likelihood have been the same, that is, would have been composed of an equal number of bars 7. ¢., two. 
2 Landa states explicitly and unequivocally that the Maya of Yucatan 7. ¢., of the New Empire, began their 
year with the first day of the month Pop, 2.¢., o Pop: 
“The first day of the year with these people was always on the XVI day of our month July, [O. S.] and the 
first of their month Pop.” (Landa, 1881, p. 90.) And again: “The first day of Pop, which is the first month 
of the Indians, was their New Year and was a very celebrated festival among them.” (Jdid., p. 97.) The evi- 
dence here on Altar U, and also on one of the inscribed lintels at Tikal, tends to indicate that o Pop was also the 
New Year Day in the Old Empire as well. 
