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Halafian Pottery Shows Early Mathematical Thinking Through Petal Patterns

Plantlike designs on pottery from nearly 8,000 years ago may show the earliest evidence of mathematical thinking.
The flower decorations typically have four, eight, 16, 32, or 64 petals, indicating a mathematical progression based on powers of two.
Yosef Garfinkel stated that these patterns suggest the Halafians had advanced mathematical knowledge.
The study contributes to ethnomathematics, revealing mathematical concepts in ancient cultural expressions.

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Ancient pottery from Mesopotamia may hold earliest clues to mathematics

A new study suggests flower patterns painted on 8,000-year-old pottery reveal early ideas of balance, symmetry and numerical thinking long before written maths existed.

2 days ago·India

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+6 Reposted by 6 other sources

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These ancient designs may be the first evidence of humans doing math

Images of plants painted on pottery made up to 8,000 years ago may be the earliest example of humans’ mathematical thought, a study has found.

5 days ago·Atlanta, United States

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This ancient pottery holds the earliest evidence of humans doing math

Flower designs on 8,000-year-old Mesopotamian pots reveal a “mathematical knowledge” perhaps developed to share land and crops, archaeologists say.

8 days ago·United States

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This Ancient Pottery Contains the First Evidence that Humans Were Doing Mathematics.

Plant designs on pottery made almost 8,000 years ago could be the first proof of mathematical thought. Many floral decorations painted on pottery by an ancient culture in northern Mesopotamia have a regular number of petals determined by a mathematical progression, report two archaeologists [...]

7 days ago

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