Topic
Ishango bone
About: Ishango bone is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3 publications have been published within this topic receiving 22 citations.
Papers
1 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The Ishango bone is a 10-cm long curved bone, first described by its discoverer, J. de Heinzelin, who found it among harpoon heads at a village called Ishango not far from the present border between Congo and Uganda as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In 1950, the Belgian Prof. J. de Heinzelin discovered a bone at Ishango, a Congolese village at the sources of the Nile. The artefact has patterned notches, making it the first tool showing logic reasoning. Here, Pletser proposes his new "slide rule" interpretation, rejecting former "arithmetic game" and "calendar" explanations. Counting methods of present day civilisations in Africa provide circumstantial evidence for Pletser's hypothesis. Moreover, it confirms de Heinzelin's archaeological evidence about relationships between Egypt, West Africa and Ishango. It points towards the use of the base 12, which anthropologist Thomas had studied in West Africa some 80 years ago. It appears that the Ishango artefact is the missing link Thomas was looking for. These results where obtained independently; for instance, space scientist Pletser just stumbled over the Ishango artefact as he favoured the project of carrying it into space, as an African equivalent of the Katachi-symmetry relationship. 1. The Ishango bone The Ishango bone is a 10-cm long curved bone, first described by its discoverer, J. de Heinzelin. He found the tiny bone about fifty years ago, among harpoon heads at a village called Ishango not far from the present border between Congo and Uganda. The fishermen settlement lays on the shores of the Semliki River, one of farthest the sources of the Nile. The bone has a fragment of quartz on the top, most probably for engraving purposes. About 20,000 years old (or even 90,000 years, following other indications), it is the oldest mathematical tool. The bone carries notches distributed in three columns along the bone length. The central column along the most curved side of the bone, is called the M column (French: Milieu), while G and D indicate the Left ( Gauche) and Right (Droite) columns. The M column shows eight groups of respectively 3, 6, 4, 8, 9 or 10, 5, 5, and 7 notches. The G and D columns each show four groups respectively of 11, 13, 17, 19 and of 11, 21, 19, 9 notches. The groups are labelled with an upper case letter for the column and a lower case letter for the actual group, together with the number of notches between parentheses: Ma(4) to Mh(7), Ga(11) to Gd(19), and Da(11) to Dd(9). The notches are approximately parallel
27 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: A new interpretation is proposed for these patterned notches, based on a detailed observation of their structure, which can be called the "slide rule"-reading, in contrast to former "arithmetic game" and "calendar" explanations.
Abstract: In the early fifties, the Belgian Prof. J. de Heinzelin discovered a bone in the region of a fishermen village called Ishango, at one of the farthest sources of the Nile, on the border of Congo and Uganda. The Heinzelin's Ishango bone has notches that seem to form patterns, making it the first tool on which some logic reasoning seems to have been done. In this paper a new interpretation is proposed for these patterned notches, based on a detailed observation of their structure. It can be called the "slide rule"-reading, in contrast to former "arithmetic game" and "calendar" explanations. Additional circumstantial evidences are given to support the hypothesis that the Ishango bone is a primitive mathematical tool using the base 12 and sub-bases 3 and 4.
1 citations
4 Sep 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, a few items from different sources and applied their mind to decode the primitive dots and lines of those sleeping alphabets of an age much earlier than the hieroglyphic days of the known civilisation where involvement of mathematics has been explored.
Abstract: It was as early as 35000 BCE, bones and stones were the open pages for writing anything that mind had to say. It was women who were the torch bearers. They scratched on any surface available to them and poured their mind upside down. It is now the wise men of the posterity to decipher the pristine symbols. We have collected a few items from different sources and applied our mind to decode the primitive dots and lines of those sleeping alphabets of an age much earlier than the hieroglyphic days of the known civilisation where involvement of mathematics has been explored. We said ‘open sesame’ and the door of unexplored mathematics, astronomy and religion etc.: opened up in front of our eyes! Here is our presentation.
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 1999 | 1 |