30,000
BC to 20,000 BC |
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| The first tools used as aids to calculation were almost certainly man's own fingers, and it is not simply a coincidence that the word "digit" is used to refer to a finger (or toe) as well as a numerical quantity. | As the need to represent larger numbers grew, early man employed readily available materials for the purpose. Small stones or pebbles could be used to represent larger numbers than fingers and toes, and had the added advantage of being able to easily store intermediate results for later use. Thus, it is also no coincidence that the word "calculate" is derived from the Latin word for pebble. | |
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| The oldest known objects used to represent numbers are bones with notches carved into them. These bones, which were discovered in western Europe, date from the Aurignacian period 20,000 to 30,000 years ago and correspond to the first appearance of Cro-Magnon man. (The term "Cro-Magnon" comes from caves of the same name in Southern France, in which the first skeletons of this race were discovered in 1868.) | ||
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| Of special
interest is a wolf's jawbone more than
20,000 years old with fifty-five notches in groups of five. This bone, which was
discovered in Czechoslovakia in 1937, is the first evidence of the tally system. The tally system is still used to the present day, and could therefore qualify as one of the most enduring of human inventions (see also Tally Sticks: The Hidden Dangers). |
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| Also of interest is a piece of bone dating from around 8,500 BC, which was discovered in Africa, and which appears to have notches representing the prime numbers 11, 13, 17, and 19. Prime numbers are those that are only wholly divisible by the number one and themselves, so it is not surprising that early man would have attributed them with a special significance. What is surprising is that someone of that era had the mathematical sophistication to recognize this quite advanced concept and took the trouble to write it down -- not the least that prime numbers had little relevance to everyday problems of gathering food and staying alive. | |
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| These notes are abstracted from the book Bebop BYTES Back (An Unconventional Guide to Computers) Copyright Information |
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