HISTORY OF COPAN DURING THE OLD EMPIRE. 421 
Even if the doubtfully deciphered stele, 22, 17, 18, and 21, are correctly 
assigned above, and allowing Stela 16 for one of the unfilled period-endings, 
there are still six lacune in the sequence of the early monuments. Since the 
first 4 early monuments concerning which there is little or no doubt all 
record lahuntun-endings, 1.¢., Stele 20, 24, 15, and 9, perhaps at first, and 
up to 9.6.0.0.0, stele were erected only on lahuntun-endings, and the katun- 
endings were permitted to pass by without being thus marked. Such an 
explanation is very unsatisfactory, as it presupposes the half-katun periods 
were of more importance than the katuns themselves, which would have 
been an unusual belief, to say the least. On the other hand, the 3 earliest 
surely deciphered stele all record lahuntun-endings, and if this were the case, 
and assuming Stela 22 may be referred to the lahuntun-ending 9.3.10.0.0, 
there would be only one break in the monumental sequence priot to 9.6.0.0.0, 
namely, 9.5.10.0.0, to which we may possibly assign Stela 16. 
If the katun-endings were also marked from 9.6.0.0.0 on, we have two 
lacune in the latter half of the Early Period, namely, at 9.8.0.0.0 and 
g.8.10.0.0, and even if Stela 21 be assigned to either of these dates, it still 
leaves two lacuna, as in that case there is no monument for 9.7.10.0.0. 
These results are not altogether satisfactory. Some of the readings sug- 
gested are very uncertain, and the assumption that lahuntun-endings were 
of greater importance than katun-endings, in spite of the fact that the 
remains apparently indicate such a fact, is even more doubtful. However, 
the following facts may be accepted as established: 
1. Surely as early as 9.2.10.0.0 (Stela 24), and probably as early as 9.1.10.0.0 
(Stela 20), the practice of marking the expiration of the successive lahuntuns and 
katuns was inaugurated at Copan. 
2. Of the 6 surely dated monuments of the Early Period at Copan, 5 record 
lahuntun and katun-endings and the sixth a third hotun-ending. 
3. On the basis of this periodicity for the erection of the stelz, 7. ¢., no first 
and third hotuns marked by stelz prior to 9.9.5.0.0, there are only 6 out of the 17 
possible period-endings, between 9.1.10.0.0 and 9.9.10.0.0 inclusive at Copan, for 
which no corresponding stelz have been found. 
4. Finally, this practice is found to have prevailed so much earlier at Copan 
than anywhere else, the first occurrence elsewhere being at least 125 years later, if 
we exclude the doubtfully deciphered Stelz 8 and 9 at Tikal, that there are excellent 
grounds for believing it may have originated at Copan, and from there spread 
elsewhere in the Old Empire and later carried over into the New Empire, having 
been the determining factor in the erection of stele for more than 1,200 years. 
One more point in connection with the Early Period at Copan demands 
our attention. In Chapter III, it will be remembered, Spinden expresses 
the belief that the two primitive human figures found under Altars X and 
Y in the foundations of Stele 5 and 4 respectively are the earliest sculptures 
at Copan, but since neither has any glyphs carved upon it, exact dating is 
impossible. 
This lack of exact chronological data about either is particularly 
unfortunate in view of the fact that both indubitably resemble similar 
