Maya Script

The native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica — the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered.

About Maya Script

Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, was historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. It is a logosyllabic script that combines logograms (signs representing words or morphemes) with a syllabary.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Maya culture is their sophisticated vigesimal (base-20) numeral system. Unlike the decimal system we use today, the Maya counted in base 20 and used only three symbols to represent any number.

Learn more on Wikipedia — Maya script .

Base-20 (vigesimal) 3 core symbols Positional notation c. 3rd century BC onwards

The Three Symbols

Shell = 0
Dot = 1
Bar = 5

Numerals 0 – 19

Number Converter

Enter any whole number and see it written in Maya glyphs. Each column represents a position in the base-20 system (ones, twenties, four-hundreds…).

Digits are shown left-to-right, most-significant first. Each glyph's value is shown below with its positional multiplier.