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The Ishango Bone – Is This The World’s Oldest Mathematical Artefact?
• Most people think that the study of mathematics has its origins in Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, but this view was dramatically challenged in the 1950’s with the discovery of a small animal bone, inscribed with markings that appear to represent numbers. This artefact was discovered in the small African fishing village of Ishango, on the border of Zaire and Uganda by the Belgian geologist Jean de Heinzelin.
• The Ishango Bone now lies at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, and has been dated to around 20,000 BC. It is thought to be the oldest mathematical artefact ever discovered.
At first glance the bone appears to be a simple writing tool. It is 10 cm long, and at one end is embedded with a piece of quartz thought to be for engraving and tattooing. Closer examination reveals a series of notches running up the side of the bone, in three columns.
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ANSTI, the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions, is an organ of
cooperation that embraces African institutions engaged in University level training and research in the fields of science and technology. Founded in January 1980, through the financial support of UNDP, UNESCO and Germany, the network has grown over the years to become an effective institution for the development of human resource capacity in the fields of Basic and Engineering Sciences. To-date it
has 109 member institutions in 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This puts ANSTI in a powerful position to advertise, coordinate and implement various programme activities for various international agencies. The original aim of ANSTI which has remained unchanged over the years, was to develop active collaboration among African scientific institutions so as to promote research and development in areas of relevance to the development of the region. ANSTI emphasizes the pooling of resources available in the region so as to provide quality training and research in various scientific disciplines. In order to achieve this objective ANSTI is engaged in numerous activities which can be
grouped into 4 programme areas: • Training • Seminars & Workshops • Publications • Promotion of Research/ Development
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