TALLY STICK (c.35,000 B.C.E.)

 COUNTING MAKES ITS DEBUT IN SWAZILAND.

Tally sticks or tallies are batons of bone,ivory,wood or stone into which notches are made as a means of recording numbers or even messages. The archaeological and historical records are rich in tallies,with the lebombo bone as the earliest example.Found in a cave in the lebombo mountains in Swaziland and made from a baboons fiabula,it dates back to 35,000 B.C.E. Its marks suggest that it is a lunar phase counter,indicating an appreciation of math far beyond simple counting.

The notches would span the sticks width which subsequently would be split so that both halves had that same marketing, To avoid forgeries.The halves differed in length,the longer half,or stock was the person making the payment,hence 'stockholder' and the shorter half or foil,for the recipient
 of the money or goods.
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