HISTORY OF COPAN DURING THE OLD EMPIRE. 427 
ture and Group 9. In short, the extensive occupation of the valley had been 
effected, and now for the next century and a half the principal efforts of the 
tribe were devoted to beautifying and enlarging their new capital. 
Some time during the first 15 years, work on Temple (Mound) 9 was 
commenced, and in 9.11.15.0.0 both this temple and Stela 1 were dedicated, 
the former facing south, where, during the next century, the Acropolis was 
slowly to take shape. (See plate 6.) 
The next hotun-ending, 9.12.0.0.0, also a katun-ending as well, was 
commemorated by the erection of two round altars, both presenting Initial 
Series, being the first examples of altars which may have been used inde- 
pendently of stele yet encountered, one associated with Stela 1 and Temple 
g, and the other at a new settlement, Group 8, which seems to have been 
founded about this time. 
The next hotun-ending, 9.12.5.0.0, was marked by the erection of 
Stela I, an extremely important monument, since its location probably 
determines the date of construction of the Great Plaza. 
Stela I stands in a niche on the terrace on the east side of the Great 
Plaza in such a way as to indicate that it was erected before this terrace 
was built, that is to say, this terrace could not have been built until after 
9.12.5.0.0 (see plate 6). Probably shortly after this date the Great Plaza 
was laid out in its present form, and possibly completed or at least well 
under way before the erection of Stela J, 25 years later. 
The next hotun-ending was commemorated by the erection of Stela 6 
at Group 8, and then, with 9.12.15.0.0 missing in the monumental sequence, 
the next, 9.13.0.0.0, also a katun-ending as well, was commemorated by the 
dedication of two rectangular table-like altars, H’ and I’. These are now 
found in the Western Court, but the writer supposes them to have been 
brought hither from some other part of the Main Structure, assuming the 
Western Court not to have been built until 80 years later. 
The next hotun is not represented by any known monument, but the 
next, 9.13.10.0.0, is recorded on Stela J at the southeast corner of Mound 3, 
one of the complex of terraces surrounding the Great Plaza. (See plate 6.) 
The last monument of the Middle Period is Stela 5 at Group 8, dating 
either from 9.13.15.0.0 or 9.14.0.0.0; and then the closing 20 years of the 
period, 9.14.0.0.0 to 9.15.0.0.0, are represented by no monuments, being a 
complete blank, so far as the inscriptions are concerned. 
We have seen, however, that this was an epoch of great building activ- 
ity at Copan. The construction of Mound 26, and probably of Mound 11 
and the whole eastern side of the Acropolis, had just been started, and was 
absorbing the energies of all the artisan class. At the beginning of the 
Great Period, 7. ¢., in 9.15.0.0.0 and 9.15.5.0.0, as will appear presently, 
time was taken to erect three stele and an altar, but after 9.15.5.0.0 there is 
another 20-year hiatus in the monumental sequence, unless we except the 
