INSCRIPTIONS OF THE GREAT PERIOD. 357 
The date recorded by this Initial Series was a day 10 Ahau, which 
occurred some time in Katun 8, and since this day occurred 27 times in 
Katun 8, we have 27 possible dates here. There is an assumption, however, 
that may be made, which will reduce this number of possible readings to 
two. It will be remembered that in the vast majority of cases where the 
kin coefficient is 0 (7. ¢., where the day-sign is Ahau, as here), the uinal 
coefficient is also o, that is, the ends of even tuns were usually recorded. 
Assuming this to have been the case here, we will find by referring to 
Goodman’s tables that there were only two tuns in Katun 8 which ended 
on a day 10 Ahau, namely, 9.8.2.0.0 ro Ahau 13 Mol and 9.8.15.0.0.0 10 
Ahau 8 Tzec. Therefore in all probability one of these two Initial Series 
was recorded in B1-a3a. 
But we have seen, further, that hotun-endings were recorded far more 
frequently than other tun-endings; therefore of these two tun-endings, 
9.8.15.0.0 on general principles would be the better value of the two. Let us 
assume for the moment that the Initial Series of this monument was in fact 
g.8.15.0.0. 10 Ahau 8 [zec, and proceed with the examination of the text, to 
see if any further light is forthcoming from the remaining glyphs. 
The next decipherable glyph is at a6, which records the Calendar Round 
date 11 Ahau 18 Zac, and following this in Aca is a well-known ending super- 
fix, and in a6b “End of a hotun.” Referring to Goodman’s tables, it will 
be found that the only hotun in Cycle 9 which ended on the date 11 Ahau 
18 Zac was 9.14.15.0.0, and we may therefore accept this as the Initial Series 
corresponding to this date. But this is exactly 6 katuns later than the best 
reading of the Initial Series of this stela, namely, 9.8.15.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Tzec. 
This relation can hardly have been accidental, but tends to indicate that 
this is the correct reading of the Initial Series. 
That 9.14.15.0.0 is the correct Initial Series for 11 Ahau 18 Zac is also 
proved by the four glyphs following Aéa, 7. ¢., a7-B7, which unmistakably 
record “4 Ahau 13 Yax End of Katun 15,” that is, the next hotun-ending 
after 9.14.15.0.0 in the Long Count, and a katun-ending as well. This is the 
last decipherable glyph on Stela 4, although the next to last glyph-block of 
the inscription, Blo records 13? and may have some significance, as will 
appear later. 
Stela 4 is the most advanced of all the Copan stele stylistically con- 
sidered, the last and most notable achievement of the Copan sculptors in 
portraying the human form. Its contemporaneous date, therefore, can not 
be 9.15.0.0.0, the last date recorded upon it, since there are at least three 
earlier monuments in the stylistic sequence (Stele D, M, and N), the con- 
temporaneous dates of which are surely later than 9.15.0.0.0. It is not 
unlikely, therefore, that the same condition obtains here as probably ob- 
tained on Stela F, the contemporaneous date of which we have seen was 
probably 1 Calendar Round later than the latest date actually recorded upon 
1 As a result of Spinden’s visit to Copan in 1914, he reached the conclusion that on stylistic grounds Stela 4 
is the latest stela there. (See p. 359.) 
