Assessment Questions 6.6

Yes, according to the passage, ancient humans engaged in mathematical activities such as counting and symbolically recording numbers. Archaeologist Francesco d'Errico's interpretation of nine parallel incisions on a hyena bone found at the Les Pradelles site in France suggests an ancient example of symbolically depicting a count of nine things, although the nature of these nine things is unspecified. The passage also mentions a more elaborate baboon bone from Border cave in South Africa, containing precisely carved notches numbering 29, dating back to 42,000 years ago. This evidence indicates that ancient humans developed systems for symbolic representation of numerical information, possibly as early as 60,000 years ago.

Ancient humans symbolically represented numbers by engaging in activities similar to tallying. The passage mentions the interpretation by archaeologist Francesco d'Errico of parallel incisions on a hyena bone at the Les Pradelles site in France as an example of symbolically depicting a count of nine things. Additionally, a baboon bone from Border cave in South Africa, containing precisely carved notches numbering 29 and dating back 42,000 years, provides further evidence of ancient humans developing systems for symbolic representation of numerical information.