page_title: Mesoamerican calendars
section_title: Long Count
hierarchical_section_title: Mesoamerican calendars / Long Count
caption_attribution_description: Estela C de Tres Zapotes (encontrada en el Cerro de las Mesas al oeste de las montañas de Tuxtla, Veracruz) Es uno de los primeros documentos escritos de América. Concretamente data del periodo llamado Olmeca III (tardío), aproximadamente al comenzar nuestra era: la famosa Estela «C» de Tres Zapotes (México) contiene la fecha equivalente al 2 de septiembre del año 31 dC
context_page_description: Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Besides keeping time, Mesoamerican calendars were also used in religious observances and social rituals, such as for divination.
  The existence of Mesoamerican calendars is known as early as ca. 500 BCE, with the essentials already appearing fully defined and functional. These calendars are still used in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.
  The importance of aboriginal calendars in ritual and other aspects of Mesoamerican life was noted by many missionary priests, travelers, and colonial administrators, and later by ethnographers who described and recorded the cultures of contemporary Mesoamerican ethnic groups.
context_section_description: The 365-day and the 260-day calendars identified and named the days, but not the years. The combination of a solar year date and a 260-year date was enough to identify a specific date to most people's satisfaction, as such a combination did not occur again for another 52 years, above general life expectancy. To measure dates over periods longer than 52 years, the Mesoamericans devised the Long Count calendar. This calendar system was probably developed by the Olmecs and later adopted by the Maya. The use of the long count is best attested among the classic Maya, it is not known to have been used by the central Mexican cultures.
  The Long Count calendar identifies a date by counting the number of days from August 11, 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6, 3114 BCE in the Julian Calendar (-3113 astronomical). The Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. Thus 0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, and 0.0.0.2.0 is equal to 40.
caption: The back of Stela C from Tres Zapotes, an Olmec archaeological site.
  This is the second oldest Long Count date yet discovered.  The numerals 7.16.6.16.18 translate to September 1, 32 BCE (Gregorian). The glyphs surrounding the date are what is thought to be one of the few surviving examples of Epi-Olmec script.
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