580 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
At the very end of the Old Empire there is an obvious return to the first prac- 
tice of commemorating only the katun-endings. No first, second, or third hotun- 
endings have been found at any of the Old Empire cities after 9.19.10.0.0, and the 
few that seem to have been occupied during the first two katuns of Cycle 10, the 
little group in the northeastern corner of Peten, Flores, Tikal, Nakum, Ucanul, 
and Benque Viejo, and Seibal in central Peten, only commemorated the katun- 
endings 10.1.0.0.0 and 10.2.0.0.0. 
After the extinction of the Old Empire civilization, Maya culture poured out 
of the Old Empire region in two directions, south into the highlands of Guatemala 
and north into the plains of Yucatan. The custom we are examining just managed 
to reach the northern edge of the first region (Stela 1 and 2 at Quen Santo, see 
plate 1), but for some unknown reason could not, or at least did not, survive there. 
In the north, however, this practice fared better, and we have two lahuntun-end- 
ings declared on Initial Series monuments within the first century after the close of 
the Old Empire (7. ¢., the Chichen Itza lintel and Stela 1 at Tuluum). But coin- 
cident with the collapse of Initial Series dating in the New Empire, it would seem 
to have become restricted in its application principally, although probably not 
exclusively, at least at first,’ to the katun-endings only. 
As has been shown in the foregoing pages, we have archzologic proof of this in 
such monuments as Stela 9 at Mayapan, Stela 1 at Ichmul and the Cave of Loltun, 
as well as preconquest manuscript evidence thereof in the Codex Peresianus, and 
direct contemporary documentary corroboration therefor in the accounts of Nakuk 
Pech, Juan Josef Hoil (the redactor of the Chumayel chronicles), Landa, Cogolludo, 
and even Villagutierre Sotomayor, and the indirect evidence furnished by the pas- 
sages quoted from the « kahlay katunob in the Books of Chilan Balam. 
In closing this description of the hotun, it is perhaps well to point out that 
monuments were not erected exclusively at these times, as, for example, Stela 11 
at Yaxchilan, which bears the date 9.16.1.0.0, and Stela 6 at Naranjo, erected in 
9.17.1.0.0; but that the very great majority were can not be gainsaid. 
It was one of the most important facts of ancient Maya life. It must have 
influenced and absorbed the activities of a great part of the population of 
every Maya city; and finally it must have determined not only the times for some 
of their most important feasts and ceremonies, but also profoundly affected their 
very religion as well. It was, in fine, the most fundamental phase of their religion 
and life of which we have archzologic evidence, and the persistence with which it 
prevailed, practically unchanged for more than 15 centuries (1. ¢., down to 1697), 
is ample proof that it was also one of the most deep-rooted customs of their own 
times. 


1In addition to the lahuntun-endings on the Chichen Itza lintel and Stela 1 at Tuluum, the writer found a 
Tun 11 ending on a column in the Temple of the High Priests’ grave at Chichen Itza, 11.19.11.0.0 2 Ahau 18 Xul 
(see figure 76), and a Tun 13 ending in the Temple of the Initial Series at Holactun, either 10.9.13.0.0 2 Ahau 
8 Yax or 11.2.13.0.0 2 Ahau 8 Cumhu, and possibly others. 
