432 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
hotun occurs as the contemporaneous date of different monuments, all con- 
temporaneous dates not hotun-endings being plotted as at the ends of their 
corresponding hotuns. Thus, for example, all the monuments which date 
from 9.16.12.5.17 have been plotted as dating from 9.16.15.0.0, the current 
hotun-ending. In the Early and Middle Periods, when practically all of the 
monuments were erected at hotun-endings, this has no appreciable effect 
on the curve, but after 9.16.10.0.0, when this practice began to fall into 
disuse, it introduces certain minor variations between hotun-endings not 
shown in figure 68. The black dots on the curve indicate the number of 

EARLY PERIOD MIDDLE PERIOD GREAT PERIOD 
ooo oosec0ooo0 coc ona 820 eo sooo coeosoc soc oo Oo OO 0 6.0 60 CoO OS, ClaorS 
SSODCDCSGEOOCOSGKDSGCGOSGOSKCOeG DC OOO ae S OG OS G6 So 6S 0 6'O'O Gro oor 
CSI SS FS ES GS GC GPC gro lg SQ S'S SS Sere CROC OS GEO GO CO hOt CRC Re naa 
SOKA HANK HGEH HH HHEEKNKGHGAG GSH He HN GAKXEHAS Er REGAagdodH 
HHKAFGHTHAGHKHGHFHAHKAGHGHAGHAHHHGFHHHHHRHHHFKHHHHHHRHHHHHSGASD 








OFPNOF TO WMOO 

Fic. 68.— Diagram showing the chronologic distribution and frequency of the dated monuments at Copan. 
monuments assigned to the corresponding hotun-ending; when the curve 
passes through a vertical line without such a dot, it indicates that no monu- 
ments have yet been found which date from that particular hotun. The 
outstanding features of the curve are: 
1. The practically stationary position at the first ordinate above the base- 
line (0) throughout the Early Period, with stations only at second and fourth hotun- 
endings until 9.9.10.0.0 is reached. This may be interpreted as indicating that 
throughout the Early Period the lahuntun and katun-endings were for the most 
part commemorated by the erection of but a single monument.! 
2. The first long minimum, from 9.9.10.0.0 to 9.11.0.0.0. This return of the 
curve to the base-line for 25 years, 7. ¢., until the hotun-ending 1n 9.11.0.0.0, may 
be interpreted as indicating that during this period the extensive occupation of the 
valley was under way and new groups were being established, after the long period 
of quiescence at Group 9, during which the tribe was slowly gaining in strength. 
3. The sudden upward swing of the curve in 9.11.0.0.0, to the first maximum. 
This may be interpreted as indicating that the extensive occupation of the valley 
after the close of the Early Period and during the first katun of the Middle Period 
had been completed by this date. 
4. The sudden drop of the curve to the second ordinate above the base-line 
after 9.11.0.0.0 and its continuation there with but minor variations until the last 

1 Stela 15 and Altar Q’,Stela 16 and Altar Y, and Stela 17 and Altar X have been plotted in figure 68 as three 
monuments instead of six, each pair being regarded as a single monument like Stela E and its altar. In all 
probability Altar Q’ was formerly associated with Stela 15, since both record the same date, and the other two 
associations have been suggested as not improbable. Altars J’, K’, L’, M’, P’, and A’ and Stelz 22 and 21 have 
been omitted from figure 68 as being of too uncertain date to plot properly, and the inscribed peccary skull from 
Tomb 1 (see pages 379-381) on the grounds that it is not a monument and hence does not properly belong to 
the monumental sequence. 
