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Counting in ancient Mesoamerica

By Google Arts & Culture

Mesoamerica symbolica 6-1

Counting in ancient Mesoamerica

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The Maya developed the concept of zero, representing it as a shell. 

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The bars and dots system.

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Numbers from 1 to 19 in the Maya counting system were written using a bar and dot system, in which the dot = 1 and the bar =5.

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The Maya also counted and followed the days, and developed three calendars - two to track the passage of time, and another for religious periods. 

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Every 52 years the two calendars began on the same day.

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Mesoamerica Symbolia writing

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