HISTORY OF COPAN DURING THE OLD EMPIRE. 419 
appears as not improbable that all the outlying monuments of the Early 
Period originally had been erected at Group 9, which we may perhaps 
appropriately call Old Copan, being in all likelihood the first settlement in 
the valley. 
The dates and provenance of Stele 7, E, and P, moreover, greatly 
strengthen this hypothesis. It has been shown: 
1. That Stela 7 is the only monument of the Early Period which was practically 
in situ (1.¢., fallen directly above its original foundations) when found. 
2. That Stelaz E and P at the Main Structure are surely not in situ where now 
found, since they occur in places which were not built until long after their con- 
temporaneous dates. 
3. That Stele 7, E, and P commemorated three successive hotun-endings 
in the Long Count, 9.9.0.0.0, 9.9.5.0.0, and 9.9.10.0.0 respectively. 
It seems reasonable to infer from these facts that Stele E and P, which 
marked the next two hotuns after 9.9.0.0.0, the date of Stela 7, had originally 
been erected at Group 9, probably near Stela 7, and that some time later, 
after the Great Plaza was built (1. ¢., after 9.12.5.0.0), Stela E and its altar 
were removed from Group 9g and carried to the Main Structure 2 kilometers 
east and re-erected there on the terrace on the west side of the Great Plaza, 
and further, that some time after the Western Court had been completed 
(about 9.17.0.0.0), Stela P was similarly removed from Group g and re-erected 
in the Western Court. 
Stela P is the last monument of the Early Period, and between it and 
Stele 12, 2, 10, 19, 23, 13, and 3, the first stele of the Middle Period, there 
is a lacuna in the sequence of the monuments of 25 or 30 years. Moreover, 
as will appear presently, not one of these seven earliest stele of the Middle 
Period is at Group 9, and only two of them are at the Main Structure, the 
rest being scattered from Santa Rita (Group 1), 14 kilometers east of Group 
9, to Hacienda Grande (Group 13), 3.5 kilometers west of Group 9. 
It appears probable, therefore, that at the end of the Early Period 
(after 9.9.10.0.0) a tremendous expansion took place, in the course of which 
the whole valley was intensively occupied for the first time, a number of 
smaller groups, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 12, and 13 being established (see plate 3); and 
coincident with this centrifugal movement, Group 9 began to decline in 
importance, no monuments at all being erected there during the Middle 
Period, and only five during the Great Period. 
Assuming, then, that all the monuments of the Early Period, wherever 
found, were originally erected at Group g, let us next examine the dates of 
the 13 stele now known from the period: 
Stela 20 Stela 16 Stela 24 Stela 7 
Stela 21 Stela 17 Stela 15 Stela E 
Stela 22 Stela 18 Stela 9 Stela P 
Stela 25 
Of these, the 7 in the first two columns are only doubtfully deciphered, 
although Stele 20 and 25 are probably correct as given, and Stele 17 and 
18 possibly so. The six in the last two columns are surely deciphered. 
