When did the ancient Mayan civilization flourish? Were they contemporaries of the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, or Babylonians?
Describe the numeral system of the ancient Mayans. Emily Carroll JW See: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3392585 JW See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyph The Mayans originated in the Yucatan around 2600 BC, but rose to prominence around 250 A.D. in present day southern Mexico. The classic period for the Mayans was between 250 and 900 A.D. The Mayans started to decline in 900 A.D., and then moved to the Yucatan again for another 500 years before the Spaniards overtook the civilization in 1500 A.D. Mayan numerals were similar to ancient Chinese numerals since both numbers were to be read from top to the bottom. The Mayans operated with place values like we do now, which in the Mayan time was uncommon to do since the other civilizations had nothing like this. The Mayans also developed the idea of zero, which was used as a place holder. The Mayans used “20 as the primary base, along with an additive grouping technique based on 5 for the numbers in the 20-block” (page 28). The Mayan n
