Editing Maya numerals (section)

== Origins ==
Several Mesoamerican cultures used similar numerals and base-twenty systems and the [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar]] requiring the use of zero as a place-holder. The earliest long count date (on [[Chiapa de Corzo Stela 2#Notable finds|Stela 2]] at Chiappa de Corzo, [[Chiapas]]) is from 36 BC.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|No long count date actually using the number 0 has been found before the 3rd century, but since the long count system would make no sense without some placeholder, and since Mesoamerican glyphs do not typically leave empty spaces, these earlier dates are taken as indirect evidence that the concept of 0 already existed at the time.}}

Since the eight earliest Long Count dates appear outside the Maya homeland,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Olmecs: America's First Civilization|last=Diehl|first=Richard|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2004|isbn=0-500-02119-8|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/186 186]|oclc=56746987|author-link=Richard Diehl|url=https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/186}}</ref> it is assumed that the use of zero and the Long Count calendar predated the Maya, and was possibly the invention of the [[Olmec]]. Indeed, many of the earliest Long Count dates were found within the Olmec heartland. However, the Olmec civilization had come to an end by the 4th century BC, several centuries before the earliest known Long Count dates—which suggests that zero was ''not'' an Olmec discovery.