Mesoamerican Long Count calendar 18. Thus 0.0.1.0.0 does not represent 400 days, but rather only 360 days and 0.0.0.17.19 represents 359 days. The name "b'ak'tun" was invented by modern scholars. The numbered Long Count was no longer in use by the time the Spanish arrived in the Yucatán Peninsula, although unnumbered k'atuns and tuns were still in use. Instead the Maya were using an abbreviated Short Count. Long Count dates are written with Mesoamerican numerals, as shown on this table. A dot represents "1" while a bar equals "5". The shell glyph was used to represent the zero concept. The Long Count calendar required
Mesoamerican cosmovision and adherence to calendar systems. Mesoamericans did not understand human sacrifice as a malicious act, but rather sacrifices were carried out in an effort to renew and center their world, as well as pay debts to the gods. Mesoamericans carried out ritual sacrifice in order to balance, center, and renew their cosmo-magical world, which hinged upon ever-present duality: the human and the divine (the earth and the cosmos). Cosmovision is understood as one of the structures that is found throughout Mesoamerican history. It is evident that the concept was one adopted in varying forms by all Mesoamerican cultures, and aided