Trade
Early Modern Counter
An early modern counter of the "Reichenmaster" style, with one side showing a picture of a man using a counting board and the other side showing the alphabet. These counters were used in classrooms to teach students both to read and perform basic arithmetic.
Coca Bag
This coca bag is from the Moche culture that existed in Peru between the period of 100 to 700 AD. The Moche are known for their ceramics, textiles, and metalworking practices, and this bag demonstrates the skill of Moche weavers.
Meroitic Script
The Meroitic Script was used in the Kingdom of Kush beginning in the 3rd Century BCE, or the Meroitic Period, and had two forms, Meroitic Cursive and Meroitic hieroglyphs.
Division with an Early Modern Counting Board
Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe.
Multiplication with an Early Modern Counting Board
Before the rise of literacy rates, counting boards such as the one featured in the video were the most common way to perform arithmetic. After pen-and-paper arithmetic replaced counting boards, Arabic numerals also became dominant throughout Europe.
Engraving of a Rechentisch (Counting Board)
This image of an engraving depicts a man using a rechentisch, or counting board, the earliest known counting device and a precursor the abacus. The earliest known counting board is the Salamis Tablet, dating from 300 BCE, but may have been used more for gaming than for calculating.
Moche Portrait Vessels
Moche portrait vessels are ceramic vessels that often featured only heads, but some also have full human bodies as well, and most are representations of adult men.
Shell Pendant or Bead from Ecuador
This pendant or bead was made from a shell and dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE. Found in Ecuador, it was likely made by the Valdivia culture, a people who lived on the western coast and mainly subsisted off fishing and farming and flourished between the years of 3500 BCE - 1500 BCE.
Lapita Pottery from the Santa Cruz Islands
This pottery sherd dates from around 1000 BCE and is from the Lapita culture, the likely common ancestor of contemporary Polynesian cultures. This sherd was found in the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the Solomon Islands.
History of Pre-Modern Math
Before the widespread adoption of Arabic numerals, medieval and early modern Europeans added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided using a type of abacus known as a counting board and only afterwards recorded the results of their ca