Prehistoric numerals

Numeral systems

Hindu–Arabic numeral system

* Western Arabic
* Eastern Arabic

* Bengali
* Devanagari
* Gurmukhi
* Sinhala
* Tamil

* Balinese
* Burmese
* Dzongkha
* Gujarati
* Javanese
* Khmer
* Lao
* Mongolian
* Thai

East Asian

* Chinese
* Suzhou
* Hokkien
* Japanese
* Korean
* Vietnamese
* Tangut

* Counting rods

Alphabetic

* Abjad
* Armenian
* Āryabhaṭa
* Cyrillic
* Ge'ez
* Georgian
* Greek
* Hebrew
* Roman

Former

* Aegean
* Attic
* Babylonian
* Brahmi
* Chuvash
* Egyptian
* Etruscan
* Glagolitic
* Inuit
* Kharosthi
* Mayan
* Muisca
* Quipu

* Prehistoric

Positional systems by base

* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 8
* 10
* 12
* 16
* 20
* 60

Non-standard positional numeral systems

* Bijective numeration (1)
* Signed-digit representation (Balanced ternary)
* factorial
* negative
* Complex-base system (2i)
* Non-integer representation (φ)
* mixed
* Asymmetric numeral systems

List of numeral systems

* v
* t
* e

Counting in prehistory was first assisted by using body parts, primarily the fingers. This is reflected in the etymology of certain number names, such as in the names of ten and hundred in the Proto-Indo-European numerals, both containing the root *dḱ also seen in the word for "finger" (Latin digitus, cognate to English toe).

Early systems of counting using tally marks appear in the Upper Paleolithic. The first more complex systems develop in the Ancient Near East together with the development of early writing out of proto-writing systems.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Development
* 2.1 Old world
* 2.2 New world
* 3 Early numerals in Unicode
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 5.1 Citations
* 5.2 Sources cited
* 6 External links

## Background

Main article: Tally marks

Numerals originally developed from the use of tally marks as a counting aid, with the oldest examples being about 35,000 to 25,000 years old.

## Development

Counting aids like tally marks become more sophisticated in the Near Eastern Neolithic, developing into various types of proto-writing. The Cuneiform script develops out of proto-writing associated with keeping track of goods during the Chalcolithic.

### Old world

* Egyptian numerals
* Babylonian numerals
* Aegean numerals

### New world

* Quipu
* Maya numerals

## Early numerals in Unicode

Further information: Unicode numerals

Unicode's Supplementary Multilingual Plane has a number of code point ranges reserved for prehistoric or early historic numerals:

* Aegean Numbers (10100–1013F)
* Ancient Greek Numbers (10140–1018F)
* Cuneiform Numbers and Punctuation (12400–1247F)
* Counting Rod Numerals (1D360–1D37F)

## See also

* History of writing ancient numbers
* Abacus
* Attic numerals
* Australian Aboriginal enumeration
* Cherty i rezy
* Chuvash numerals
* Counting rods
* History of communication
* History of mathematics
* Inuit numerals
* Lebombo bone
* Paleolithic tally sticks
* Roman numerals
* Tally marks

## References

### Citations

### Sources cited

* Arthur J. Evans, Writing in Prehistoric Greece, Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1900).

## External links

* http://www.thocp.net/timeline/0000.htm
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081205050306/http://members.fortunecity.com/jonhays/tallying.htm

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