Still on the subject of African Maths, a few days ago Ndesanjo Macha brought to my attention the history of the “Ishango bone”, which was totally unknown to me.
The Ishango bone is a calculus instrument which scientists suggest indicates a mathematical understanding that goes beyond counting. Found in 1960 by a Belgian explorer in the area of Ishango, which was centered near the headwaters of the Nile River, on the border between modern-day Uganda and Congo, the artifact was first estimated to originate between 9000 BC and 6500 BC. However, the dating of the site where it was discovered was re-evaluated, and is now believed to be more than 20,000 years old.
The lakeside Ishango population of 20000 years ago may have been one of the first counting societies, but it lasted only a few hundred years before being buried by a volcanic eruption.
(Read more detailed information here)
2 comments:
VERY INTERESTING!
Specially for coming from the best known as the "dark" continent, when in fact it has buried so much enlightening knowledge.
Shouldn't it be referred to as simply MATHS though?
... Maybe, but it's not simply maths, it's ethnomathematics and its African.
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