Editing Olmecs (section)

===Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and invention of the zero concept===
{{See also|0 (number)#History|l1=History of zero}}

[[File:Estela C de Tres Zapotes.jpg|thumb|'''The back of Stela C from [[Tres Zapotes]]'''<br />This is the second oldest Long Count date yet discovered. The numerals 7.16.6.16.18 translate to 3 September 32&nbsp;BCE (Julian). The glyphs surrounding the date are one of the few surviving examples of [[Epi-Olmec script]].<ref>Diehl, p. 184.</ref>|176x176px]]

The [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar|Long Count calendar]] used by many subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations, as well as the concept of [[zero (number)|zero]], may have been devised by the Olmecs. Because the six artifacts with the earliest Long Count calendar dates were all discovered outside the immediate Maya homeland, it is likely that this calendar predated the Maya and was possibly the invention of the Olmecs. Indeed, three of these six artifacts were found within the Olmec heartland. But an argument against an Olmec origin is the fact that the Olmec civilization had ended by the 4th century&nbsp;BCE, several centuries before the earliest known Long Count date artifact.<ref>"Mesoamerican Long Count calendar & invention of the zero concept" section cited to Diehl, p. 186.</ref>

The Long Count calendar required the use of zero as a place-holder within its [[vigesimal]] (base-20) positional numeral system. A shell glyph –[[File:MAYA-g-num-0-inc-v1.svg]] – was used as a zero symbol for these Long Count dates, the second oldest of which, on Stela C at [[Tres Zapotes]], has a date of 32&nbsp;BCE. This is one of the earliest uses of the zero concept in history.<ref>Haughton, p. 153. The earliest recovered Long Count dated is from Monument 1 in the [[Maya Civilization|Maya]] site [[El Baúl]], [[Guatemala]], bearing a date of 37&nbsp;BCE.</ref>