Ishango Bone
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The Ishango bone is a bone tool, dated to about 9,000 BC, discovered in the African area of Ishango, in the area of what are now the headwaters of the Nile River. At first thought to have been a tally stick, one end of the bone is a piece of quartz for writing, and the bone has a series of notches carved in trinary groups on rows running the length of the implement.
Rows of tally notches below:
| (a)
| 9
| 19
| 21
| 11 | ||||
| (b)
| 19
| 17
| 13
| 11 | ||||
| (c)
| 7
| 5
| 5
| 10
| 8
| 4
| 6
| 3 |
Originally from Africa, this artifact now resides at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium. The bone is dated to around 18,000 BC. [link]
The middle column begins with 3 notches, and then doubles to 6 notches. The process is repeated for the number 4, which doubles to 8 notches, and then reversed for the number 10, which is halved to 5 notches. These numbers then, are not purely random and instead suggests some understanding of the principle of multiplication and division by 2. The bone may therefore have been used as a counting tool for simple mathematical procedures. The device may have been used for astrological purposes, additional markings suggest that the bone was also used a lunar phase counter.
Furthermore, the number of notches on either side of the central column indicate more counting prowess. The numbers on both the left and right column are all odd numbers (9, 11, 13, 17, 19 and 21). Furthermore, the numbers on the left column are all prime numbers, demonstrating some mathematical knowledge. The numbers on each side column add up to 60, with the numbers in the central column adding up to 48. Both of these numbers are multiples of 12, again suggesting an understanding of multiplication and division.
All human cultures have counting today, and even some creatures have a number sense. It is difficult to gauge a human's number sense. A famous trick by Houdini tests this - the walks through a wall. Curtains are placed on the left, and the floor is covered, and bricklayers put a wall up. Houdini puts on an outfit of a bricklayer, walks to the other side in plain sight. He fooled the audience with 10 people. He knew of the human number sense. That is, we can only keep so many numbers object in mind. Tally sticks extends the human innate number sense, propelling humans above other species. This has allowed humans to keep track of larger number of objects which arose from the need to count and record numbers. All societies have had the need to match a collection of objects to an easily handled set of markers (such as notches on wood or bone). The Ishango bone is evidence of one of the first counting societies about 20000 years ago. Ishango is an area around Lake Edward in the mountain of central equitorial Africa on the border between Uganda and Zaire. Ishango is sparsely populated today, but 20000 years ago a small community fished the lake and gathered food and farmed by its shores. The Ishango society lasted only a few hundred years before being buried by an volcanic eruption. The Ishango bone is a dark brown object like a bone tool handle, it features a sharp piece of quartz at one end which may have been used for engraving or perhaps writing. The three column of notches (asymmetrically grouped) implies that it was more functional than decorative. Tally sticks predate the Ishango bone, cuts on sticks or bones have been found worldwide. These are records of counts perhaps kills by hunters. A 37000 year old baboon fabula was found in Swaziland. A 32000 wolf shin bone with 57 notches was found in Czechoslovakia (grouped in 5s). These Tally sticks are similar to calendar sticks still used today in Namibia to keep track of time. The Ishango grouping was probably used to construct a number system. This number system spread north to Egypt and contributed to the development of mathematics.
References
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