260-day ritual calendar
Calendario ritual de 260 días
- Date
- c. 600 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- San José Mogote, Oaxaca Valley, Mexico
- Credited to
- Zapotecs
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A cycle of 20 signs by 13 numbers which, combined with the 365-day year, forms the 52-year Calendar Round. Monument 3 at San José Mogote shows a possible day glyph.
The date of Monument 3 has been revised by some authors to c. 300 BCE; the calendar remains in use in Maya communities in Guatemala.
What it led to
- a calendar shared by all Mesoamerican cultures
- divination and personal names based on birth date