3 ms·
I always wonder when I read articles like this, what people would think if they were told that 78000 summers later many people will be thinking about this speci
by nnamtr 5y ago
I always wonder when I read articles like this, what people would think if they were told that 78000 summers later many people will be thinking about this specific burial.
- f6v 5y agoThey'd ask: "What is 78000?"
- 1123581321 5y agoEvidence of humans quantifying is roughly as old as this burial. The communication difficulty here would come from translating 78,000 into their mathematical system.
- ShamelessC 5y agoAnd yet the punchline is still valid because surely they have no concept of numbers that large without any sort of base system involved.
- 1123581321 5y agoSure, if requiring a minimum of translation as a premise (i.e. not introducing the concept of orders into the language via explanation.) Though I would be surprised if sexagesimal turns out to always be the oldest system we unearth.