388 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
assigned to the Great Period. For the purposes of this investigation we may 
classify the texts of the Great Period according to the media upon which 
they are presented into four general groups: (1) stele, (2) altars, (3) steps, 
and (4) jambs. The 11 stele of the Great Period may be divided into four 
classes, according to the arrangement of their designs, as follows: 
2.1 Stela having inscriptions on two alternate faces, the two remaining faces 
being plain (Stela 8). 
4.2 Stele having inscriptions on three faces, the fourth being carved with the 
representation of the human figure (Stelz A and B).® 
5. Stelaz having inscriptions on two alternate faces, the remaining two being 
carved with representations of the human figure (Stela C and N). 
6. Stele having inscriptions on the back only, the front and sides being carved 
with representations of a single human figure with increased ornamentation (Stelz 
D, M) Hy yas ander es: 
| The 5 earlier stele of the Great Period, A, B, D, M, and N, all have 
Initial Series and all record hotun-endings. Indeed, all but one, A, have 
their respective hotun-endings recorded by their respective Initial Series. 
Of the 6 in the later group, however, 8, C, H, F, 4, and 11, probably none 
were erected to commemorate hotun-endings, and only one in fact has an 
Initial Series, z.e., Stela 4. Here is a sharp break in practice as contrasted 
with the stele of the Early and Middle Periods and the beginning of the 
Great Period. The earlier stele of the group are regular, the later irregular, 
the break coming after Stela N, in 9.16.10.0.0. 
We have seen that the lahuntun from g.16.10.0.0 to 9.17.0.0.0 was 
characterized by a tremendous outburst of architectural as well as sculptural 
activity, and during the busy days which followed the erection of Stela N, 
Initial Series dating passed out of fashion at Copan. ‘Thus all the final 
stele and temples have their contemporaneous dates recorded as Period 
Endings or simply Calendar Round dates, or not at all. We may therefore 
formulate the following generalization concerning the stele of the Great 
Period, namely: 
During the latter half of the Great Period, the custom of erecting stelz at the 
expiration of the hotuns fell into disuse, and with it also went the custom of record- 
ing Initial Series on any kind of monuments.° 
The altars of the Great Period are as complex as the stele. Of those 
associated with stele, moreover, none present inscriptions. These are 
chiefly of the double-headed-monster type and are exceedingly complex. 
In some cases, as the altars of Stele M and F, for example, they are not even 
monolithic, being built up of several sculptured pieces fitted together. 
1 Class 1 (see p. 125) is not represented in the Great Period. 
* Class 3 (see p. 125) is not represented in the Great Period. 
’ Stela B shows a transition between Classes 4 and 5, in that its back is covered with a large grotesque mask 
instead of a human figure of heroic size. 
“Stela H shows a transition between Classes 5 and 6, having a grotesque mask on its back in addition to the 
glyph-panel. 
5 Only two exceptions, Stela 4 and Fragment E’, need be made, 
