364 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
been dedicated in the tonalamatl which contained within its span, as already 
pointed out, the first katun anniversary of the important date 9.16.12.5.17 
6 Caban 10 Mol. 
After 9.17.0.0.0, as we have already seen, a number of important works 
at the Acropolis of the Main Structure were brought to a close, the Eastern 
and Western Courts, Temples 11 and 21a, and Altars G; and Z. This must 
have released a number of sculptors, who next turned to the making of 
Stele C, H, F, 4, and 8, Altar T, and Fragment E’. The close relationship 
existing between these seven monuments has already been pointed out, Stele 
C and H being 117 and 122 days earlier respectively than Altar T, Fragment 
E’, and Stela 8, and Stele F and 4 being 143 days and 138 days later re- 
spectively than Altar T, Fragment E’, and Stela 8. 
The prominence of the tonalamatl or sacred year is particularly notice- 
able in Stele C, H, F, and 4, and indeed in these monuments seems to have 
completely overshadowed the primary function of the stele, 7.e., as being 
hotun-markers. With the breakdown of Initial Series dating doubtless 
went other practices, among them that of erecting a monument at the end 
of every hotun to commemorate its passage. New ideas were coming into 
favor, and old methods were giving way, which is perhaps the best explana- 
tion for the omission of the current hotun-ending in the inscriptions of Stele 
COHAieanda: 
We come now to the last three monuments at Copan, the dates of which 
appear to be reasonably certain, Altars W, G2, and G;. Unfortunately 
these are recorded as Calendar Round dates, so there is some little uncer- 
tainty concerning them. Indeed, the most that can be claimed for the 
readings suggested is that they are probably correct. 
ALTAR W. 
Provenance: Unknown. Removed to the Peabody Museum in 1892. 
Probably found somewhere at the Main Structure. 
(See plate 6.) 
Date: 9.18.0.0.0 11 Ahau 18 Mac!(?). 
Text, (a) photograph: plate 24, c. 
(b) drawing: Gordon, 1902, figure 14. 
Altar W is now in the Peabody Museum (catalogue number C. 2439), 
whither it was brought by the First Expedition in 1892. Its provenance, 
other than as having been found somewhere at the Main Structure, is un- 
certain. The museum catalogue only describes it as having come from 
“Copan, Honduras,” and Gordon’s only reference to it, that in his mono- 
graph on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, states that it came “from Copan.’ 
1 For other monuments recording this same hotun-ending, see Appendix VIII. 
? See Gordon, 1902. Title to figure 14 on p. 172: “Fig. 14.—11 Ahau 18 Mac. Date on a small circular 
stone from Copan.” 
