History Of Writing Ancient Numbers
The first method of counting was counting on fingers. This evolved into sign language for the hand-to-eye communication of numbers. But this was not writing.
Tallies by carving notches in wood, bone, and stone were used for at least forty thousand years. Stone age cultures, including ancient Native American groups, used tallies for gambling with horses, slaves, personal services and trade-goods.
Roman numerals evolved from this primitive system of cutting notches. It was once believed that they came from alphabetic symbols, or from pictographs like the hand, but these theories have been disproved.
Read more about History Of Writing Ancient Numbers: Clay Tokens, Conversion of Archaic Numbers To Cuneiform
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