416 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
In utilizing these chronologic data for the reconstruction of the his- 
torical background at Copan, it is necessary to bear in mind the fact that 
all dates recorded were not contemporaneous, even at the times the monu- 
ments presenting them were severally erected, and that in order to analyze 
their significance properly, it is necessary to discriminate sharply between 
the surely contemporaneous dates and those which were either historical, 1.¢., 
in the past, or prophetic, 1. ¢., in the future, at the times they were recorded. 
If this distinction is not made, the considerable preponderance of late dates 
due to the extensive use of Secondary Series and Calendar Round dating in 
texts of the Great Period will unduly emphasize the importance of that 
period, and mislead especially as to the number of texts emanating there- 
from, as compared with those from the Middle and Early Periods. 
It has been shown in the preceding section that the branch of the Maya 
which founded and built Copan probably reached there with a full knowledge 
and ample experience in the use of their peculiar chronologic and graphic 
systems; that is to say, they probably did not develop either in the region of 
Copan. Indeed, the evidence presented in the preceding section tends to 
establish that they had been engraving their records on large stone monu- 
ments (Stela 9 at Uaxactun) for at least 156 years before the earliest certain 
date at Copan (Stela 24), and on smaller stone objects (the Tuxtla Statuette) 
for at least 321 years before; in short, it would appear that the Maya 
reached the Copan Valley at a high level of cultural attainment and set 
about the intensive occupation of the region with little loss of time. And 
the next question is, when and where did this first occupation take place? 
It has been shown in Chapter II that, on stylistic grounds, Stela 20 is 
pretty surely the oldest monument at Copan, and the best reading of its 
fragmentary date, 9.1.10.0.0, agrees with this; first, because of this fact, 7. ¢., 
there being no earlier monuments known at the site, and second, because 
by this date the Maya had already been carving their inscriptions on stone 
for such a long time (more than three centuries), that the carving of stele 
could have offered no real difficulty to them even in a newly occupied 
region; the writer is disinclined to push back the date of their arrival in the 
Copan Valley much before 9.0.0.0.0. Indeed, if Stela 20 were the first 
hieroglyphic monument to be carved at Copan, and certainly no other of 
earlier style has yet been found there, it is even possible that they may have 
arrived shortly after 9.0.0.0.0. In round numbers, we may probably say 
that the Maya reached this region not much before the close of Cycle 8, and 
that by the beginning of Cycle 9 its occupation was under way, and finally 
that as early as 9.1.10.0.0, less than 30 years later, the capital, or principal 
settlement in the valley, had been located at Group 9, which answers the 
question propounded above as to when and where this occupation first 
took place. 
It may be objected that this reading for the date of Stela 20 is doubtful; 
but even if this were true, the date of Stela 24, which is surely deciphered, 
is only 20 years later. 
— ae 
