Khmer inscription K-127 zero
Cero de la inscripción K-127 (Sambor)
- Date
- 683 · confidence high
- Place
- Sambor, Kratié, Cambodia
- Credited to
- Scribes of the pre-Angkorian Khmer kingdom
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A stone inscription dated to the year 605 of the Saka era with zero written as a dot within a positional number. It is the oldest securely dated written zero to survive, two centuries earlier than the one at Gwalior.
Studied by George Cœdès (1931). The Kedukan Bukit inscription (Sumatra, 682-683) also uses zero. The Bakhshali manuscript could be older, but its dating is disputed.
What it led to
- proof of the early spread of Indic positional numeration
- revision of the history of zero