HISTORY OF COPAN DURING THE OLD EMPIRE. 429 
first katun of the Middle Period established settlements throughout the 
valley. After 9.11.0.0.0 the capital was shifted from Group 9 to the Main 
Structure, 7. ¢., nearer the middle of the valley, and an extensive building 
program inaugurated there. Finally, toward the close of the period, the 
neighboring city of Quirigua was founded, probably by colonists from Copan, 
at which time the provincial phase of the tribe’s history may be said to have 
come to an end, and from this time on for the next 70 years, 1.¢., the first 
half of the Great Period, Copan was the most brilliant city architecturally 
and sculpturally, if not indeed the most powerful, in the Old Empire. 
THE GREAT PERIOD. 
The Great Period at Copan opened with the erection of two handsome 
stele at the Main Structure and an altar at Group 9, the last being the first 
monument to be set up at the former capital for more than a century, and 
the next hotun-ending, 9.15.5.0.0, was commemorated by the erection of 
another imposing stela in the Great Plaza, especially interesting as being the 
earliest example known of the exclusive use of full-figure glyphs. 
We have already seen how, before the erection of these several monu- 
ments, the scene of sculptural and architectural activity had shifted to the 
Acropolis, and after the erection of Stela D for the next 20 years work went 
steadily forward on different parts of that great artificial substructure. 
In 9.16.5.0.0, as we have already seen, a large unit of this construction 
was completed—Mound 26, Temple 26, Stela M, and the Hieroglyphic 
Stairway—the last being by far the largest text in the Corpus Inscriptionum 
Mayarum. A hotun later, Stela N was dedicated, the last stela to be used 
for such a purpose at Copan, and less than two and a half years later the 
most important date in the Great Period at Copan, 9.16.12.4.17, was 
recorded as the dedicatory date of Temple 11 and Altars V, R, and U. 
Unfortunately, the nature of the event which rendered this particular 
date of such importance in the annals of Copan is unknown. It is different 
from the great majority of the dates heretofore encountered, being at the 
end of no particular division in the Maya chronological system, such as a 
tun, hotun, lahuntun, or katun, and for that reason probably is to be inter- 
preted as referring to the occurrence of some actual historical event or astro- 
nomical phenomenon, although which we are unable to say. 
On the evidence afforded by the glyphs thus far deciphered in the 
inscriptions, which are practically limited to the characters used in recording 
Initial, Secondary, and Supplementary Series, Period Ending, and Calendar 
Round dates, we would be justified in assuming that it was some important 
astronomical phenomenon which had taken place in 9.16.12.5.17; but, 
judged by the evidence as a whole, and particularly the three factors enum- 
erated at the top of the next page, it seems necessary to admit that this event 
may possibly have been of an historical nature, such as the death or acces- 
sion of a ruler, a notable conquest, or even the dedication of an important 
building devoted to religious uses, like Temple 11 where it was recorded. 
