H ELAINE S ELIN (Ed.

Encyclopaedia of the History of

Science, Technology, and Medicine
in Non-Western Cultures

Volume 1
A–K

With 1374 Figures and 107 Tables

Editor:
Helaine Selin
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
USA
hselin@hampshire.edu

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Editor-in-Chief
H ELAINE S ELIN
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
USA

Editorial Board
L IU D UN
Professor and Director of the Institute for the History of R ODDAM N ARASIMHA
Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences Chairman, Engineering Mechanics Unit
Being, China Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
Bangalore
J OHN S ERVOS India
Professor, Amherst College, Amherst Massachusett, USA Former Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies
and Past President of the Indian Institute of Science
History of Science Society

Advisory Board
C AI J INGFENG RUBEN M ENDOZA
China Institute for History of Medicine and Institute for Archaeological Science, Technology and
Medical Literature Visualization, California State University
Beijing Monterey Bay, California
China USA
Medicine Americas

C HRISTOPHER C ULLEN S IMON P OTTER

Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, UK East Asia, Japan
China
C.K. R AJU
G REGG DE YOUNG Centre for Computer Science, MCRP University
Mathematics Department Bhopal
The American University in Cairo, Egypt India
Egypt India

J ENS H ØYRUP R OBERT M. R AKOFF

Section for Philosophy and Science Studies School of Social Sciences Massachusetts, Hampshire College
Roskilde University, Rostilde, Denmark Amherst
Mathematics USA
Environment
A RNE K ALLAND
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo DAVID T URNBULL
Oslo Arts Faculty, Deakin University; History and Philosophy
Norway of Science, University of Melbourne; Centre for Australian
Nature and the Environment Indigenous Studies, Monash University; Sociology
Lancaster University, Australia
E.C. K RUPP Social Studies of Science
Griffith Observatory
Los Angeles, California
USA
Astronomy

C LUNY M ACPHERSON
Department of Sociology, University of Auckland, New
Zealand
Pacific
Personal Note From The Editor
Many years ago I taught African history at a secondary school in Central Africa. A few years before, some of the
teachers in the country had designed a syllabus that included pre-European history, since the curriculum, left over
from colonial days, did not include any mention of Africa before the Portuguese. After a year of teaching from this
revised version, I asked my students what they thought was the most significant moment in African history, and
virtually all of them said it was the arrival of David Livingstone.

It may well be that that was the most important moment for Africa, but it shocked me at the time that no one
considered any African achievements worth mentioning. Over these years I have come to see that the dominance of
the West means not only that Westerners disparage the rest of the world but also that the rest of the world sees itself
as inferior to the West. This book is meant to take one step towards rectifying that, by describing the scientific
achievements of those who have been overlooked or undervalued by scholars in both the West and the East.

The book is more than just a compilation of disparate articles; it is a glimpse into how people describe and
perceive and order the world. I hope the reader will do some exploring. In addition to reading about Maya
astronomy, one can read about Mesoamerican mathematics and medicine, as well as a general article on magic and
science, because all the fields are interrelated and entwined. It might be useful to read about astronomy in Africa
and in Australia, to see how similar and different these cultures are. One can travel across disciplines, following the
achievements of one culture, and across cultures, comparing the same discipline. And then it would be useful to
read an essay on Transmission of Knowledge, or Rationality and Method, to put the articles and their contents in a
broader philosophical and social context.

My hope, and that of the advisors and contributors to the project, is that the Encyclopaedia will expand the
horizons of scholars, teachers, and students by illustrating how extensive the accomplishments of non-Western
scientists are. May our future students never believe that science is limited to a fraction of the world.
—· — · —
A note about the authors’ names, especially Asian ones: I made many embarrassing errors confusing peoples’
surnames and given names, but I was reluctant to change authors’ names to conform to the Western style, as it went
against the spirit of the Encyclopaedia. Therefore, I have left the names as the authors wrote them.
Volume 2

L-Z

Mathematics in Africa: West African Games.
Fig. 2 Cumulative chants diagram.
Riddle problems. In The Vultures, a shepherd,
spending the night under a baobab tree, heard an old
vulture pose the following riddle to some children:
“There are 33 baobab trees; on each baobab there are 33
vultures; each vulture had laid 33 eggs; each egg yields
33 chicks; and each chick has 33 barbed feathers –
How many barbed feathers are there altogether?” The
shepherd, wanting to answer, fell dead. This is why,
they say, the Fulani do not want to answer.
The solution to the problem lies in the calculation of
powers. There are 336 vultures: 336 = 1,291,467,969.
Magic squares. The Fulani are familiar with simple
magic squares. They appear drawn with Arabic nume-
rals as amulets. They are also used as a kind of game.
Someone who knows the magic square proposes it to a
group of people who then try to figure it out by putting
stones, pebbles, or pieces of dung in a square drawn on
the ground.
In a magic square, the sum of the numbers in each line,
horizontal, vertical or diagonal, is the same. The
number of Allah is 5 + 30 + 30 + 1 = 66. In the Square
Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers 1361
of Saturn, the total is 15, and in the Four Angels, the
total is 92,541. Magic squares are well known in
Muslim countries, as they are in China and Japan.
See also: ▶Mathematics, ▶Recreational
References
Béart, C. Jeux et Jouets de l’Quest Africain. Dakar: IFAN,
1955.
Comoe, Krou. Ludistique Mathématique. Abidjan: Université
d’Abidjan, 1978.
Deledicq, A. and A. Popova. Wari et Solo. Supplement to the
Bulletin de liaison des Professeurs de Mathématiques, no.
14, 1977.
Doumbia, S. J. C. and Pil. Les Jeux de couris. Abidjan:
CEDA, 1992.
I.R.M.A. Mathématiques dans l’Environnement Socio-
Culturel Africain, 1984.
Lombard, C. Les jouets des enfants Baoulé. Paris: Quatre
vents, 1978.
Neveu, J. Mathematical Foundations of the Calculus of
Probabilities. San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1965.
Plot. Dossier jeux, maths et sociétés. Décembre 1994.
Mathematics and Astronomies
of the Ancient Berbers M
J OSÉ B ARRIOS G ARCÍA
Northwest Africa is an immense territory extending
from the Mediterranean shores to the Niger River and
from Libya to the Canary Islands. It is here where
Berber culture began to develop about 10,000 years
ago, and where it has continued to develop until the
present.
Despite the antiquity and widespread diffusion of
Berber culture, North African studies have traditionally
understated its contribution to human history. Camps
(1980) aptly summarized the situation in the title of his
book: Berbères: aux marges de l’Histoire (Berbers: On
the Margins of History). Although the overall situation
has improved in the last decades thanks to the efforts of
a new generation of scholars – one main outcome being
the ongoing publication of the Encyclopédie Berbère,
of which 27 volumes have already appeared – actual
research on the mathematics and astronomies of the
ancient Berbers remains scarce.
A faithful exposition of the situation must take into
account two main areas of research, each one of them
with its own scope, achievements and methodological
problems: continental Berbers on the one hand, and
Canary Islands Berbers on the other. While both areas
1362 Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers

are certainly unbalanced from many points of views,
for our purposes they complement one another.
Continental studies are part of the ethnographic
fieldwork performed in the nineteenth to twentieth
centuries by European researchers, so they mainly
provide information on modern Berbers. Most of these
notices are related to astronomy through religion,
calendar, and folklore, while those few dealing with
mathematics mainly focus on numeral systems and
their grammar. While some of the reported traditions
are important and thought-provoking, little has been
said on the technical aspects underlying them, nor on
their supposed origin and extent. Besides that, some
preliminary work has also been done on the astral
aspects of the religion of the ancient Berbers, as well as
on the astronomical orientation of a few archaeological
sites.
Canarian studies deal with the Berber populations
inhabiting the archipelago before the Spanish conquest
of the Islands on the late fifteenth century. They mainly
draw on a collection of written sources originating with
the European rediscovery of the Islands in the early
fourteenth century, complemented with archaeological,
ethnographic, and linguistic data. Since written sources
mostly apply to Grand Canary and Tenerife in the
fourteenth to fifteenth century, I must restrict the
evidence to both islands and this period of time.
Numeral Systems
Our knowledge of ancient Berber numerals comes from
different sources, and all of them point to a pure
10-base system. The three oldest numeral lists are from
the Canary Islands and are summarized in Table 1. The
first one appears in a letter describing a Portuguese
expedition to the islands in 1341, and seems to have
been first studied by Costa de Macedo (1841). The
second one appears in a play written in 1582. The third
one appears in a chronicle of the conquest of Grand
Canary preserved in a very problematic manuscript
from 1682–1687; it is most probably a late compilation
that dislocates the original list by erroneously introdu-
cing two Arabian numerals (arba and canza) and false
forms for the tens.
Continental lists are considerably younger than the
Canarian ones. The first one I can document was made
by Domingo Badía in 1804 near Marrakech, and
published under a pseudonym in Abassi (1814).

Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers. Table 1 The three known lists of Canarian numerals

Recco 1341 Cairasco 1582 Cedeño 1687

Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 3

1 nait/vait be be be ben
2 smetti smi smi smi liin
3 amelotti amat amat amat amiet/amiat
4 acodetti aco aco[s] aco[s] arba
5 simusetti somuset somu[s] somu[s] canza
6 sesetti – – [ses] sumus
7 satti – set set set
8 tamatti tamo tamo tamo set
9 alda morana – – benir ? acot
10 marava [marago] [marago] marago marago
11 nait/vait marava ben-ir-marago ben-ir-marago – venir marago
12 smatta marava – – – linir marago
13 amierat marava – – – –
14 acodat marava – – – –
15 simusat marava – – – –
16 sesatti marava – – – –
20 – – – – linago
30 – – – – amiago
40 – – – – arbago
50 – – – – cansago
60 – – – – sumago
70 – – – – satago
80 – – – – setago
90 – – – – acotago
100 – – – – bemaraguin
200 – – – – limar…in
 Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers 1363

Generally speaking, the continental data show that the
intense Arabisation process suffered by conti-
nental Berber speaking groups from the seventh
century on led to three types of situations, summarized
in Table 2:
a. Certain groups preserved a purely Berber numeral
system (Tuaregs, Mzabits, etc.).
b. Certain groups completely lost the Berber numeral
system, and counted with some dialectal variant of
the Arab system.
c. Certain groups preserved the Berber numerals
until a certain point and after that they counted
with some dialectal variant of the Arab system.
Among them were Kabylians (counting in Berber
up to two) and Shilhs (counting in Berber up to
nineteen).
Prasse (1974) undertook the reconstruction of the
proto-Berber language. A comparison of his recon-
struction with other relevant members of the Afro-
Asiatic family can be seen in Table 3.

Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers. Table 2 Tuareg, Kabylian, and Arabian numeral systems

Tuareg 1859 Kabylian 1858 Classic Arabian

Male Female Male Female Male Female

1 iien iiet iiun, iiedj iiuth, iiechth ’ah.adun, wāh.idun ’ih.dâ, wāh.idatun
2 sin, essin senatet sin senath ’itnāni ’itnatāni
3 keradh keradhet thletha id. talātun talātatun
4 okkoz okkozet arbâa id. ’arba‘un ’arba‘atun
5 semmus semmuset khamsa id. hamsun hamsatun
6 sedis sediset settsa id. ˘ un
sitt ˘ un
sittat
7 essaa essahat sebâa id. sab‘un sab‘atun
8 ettam ettamet themania id. tamānin tamāniyatun
9 tezzaa tezzahat tsâa id. tis‘un tis‘atun
10 merau meraut âchera id. ‘ašrun ‘ašaratun
11 merau d iien meraut d iiet ah’dach id. ’ah.ada ‘ašara ’ih.dâ ‘ašrata
12 merau d sin meraut de senatet ethnach id. ’itnā ‘ašara ’itnatā ‘ašrata M
20 id. senatet temeruin âcherin id. ‘išrūna id.
30 id. keradhet temeruin thlathin id. talātūna id.
40 id. okkozet temeruin arbâin id. ’arba‘ūna id.
50 id. semmuset temeruin khamsin id. hamsūna id.
60 id. sediset temeruin settsin id. ˘
sittūna id.
70 id. essahat temeruin sebâin id. sab‘ūna id.
80 id. ettamet temeruin themaniin id. tamānūna id.
90 id. tezzaat temeruin tesâin id. tis’ūna id.
100 id. timidhi miia id. mi’atun id.
200 id. senatet temadh miithain id. mi’atāny id.
1000 id. agim elef id. ‘ĕlf id.

Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers. Table 3 General comparative table of numeral systems

Proto-Berber Canarian Egyptian Acadian Arabian

1 yīwan nai/vai, be, ben w’jw ištēn wāh.idun

2 sīn sme, smi snwj ši/ena ’itnāni
3 karād. amel, amat hmtw šalaš talātun
4 hakkūz. acod, aco[s] ˘
jfdw erba ’arba‘un
5 sammūs simus, somu[s] djw hamiš hamsun
6 sad. īs ses jsw ˘
(ši/eššum) ˘ un
sitt
7 sāh sa, se sfhw sebe sab‘un
8 tām tama, tamo hmnw˘ samāne tamānin
9 tiz.āh alda [marava] ˘psdw tiše tis‘un
10 marāw marava, marago mdw ešer ‘ašrun
1364 Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers
Astronomy, Calendars and Social Organization
The fieldwork of nineteenth to twentieth century
ethnographers shows that northwest African peasants
actually used several concurrent calendars. While the
Julian calendar was the most used for agricultural
purposes and the Hegira was mainly used in religious
circumstances, the Gregorian calendar served to interact
with administration and modern life, and was a common
reference between the different systems.
Since these three calendars are non-Berber in origin
and a summary of their local characteristics can be seen
in EB–Gast–Delheure (1992), it is only necessary here
to make a brief remark on their respective dates of
introduction. Certainly, the Hegira was introduced after
the Arab invasion in the seventh century and the
Gregorian calendar after its inception in 1582, but there
are good reasons to think that the Julian calendar is
not a remnant of Roman domination, as is usually said.
It seems to have been introduced by Coptic commu-
nities well after the Arab invasion and before the
adoption of the Gregorian calendar (Servier 1985).
Besides the three mentioned calendars, a less evident
but more profound and extensive astronomical tradition
has been posed by two different and exhaustive studies
carried out in the middle twentieth century by the
French ethnologists Jean Servier and Viviana Pâques.
The Doors of the Year
Jean Servier travelled in North Algeria from 1949 to
1961 compiling information about the traditional
thinking of Berber speaking peasants. His work (Servier
1962, 1985) describes a complex symbolic world super-
posed on an apparently simple material culture. He
found that northern Algerian peasants mix a visible
world with an invisible world. The invisible world
would be related to their ancestors and the rhythms of
nature as marked by the tibburin ussegwass (doors
of the year). The doors of the year are the solstices
and the equinoxes. In his opinion, this was part of an
ancient system, which has disappeared in other parts of
the circum-Mediterranean area, but is well preserved
by traditional Berber peasants.
Canopus and the Cosmic Tree
From 1953 on Viviana Pâques researched in Fezzan,
Sahara, Mali, Algeria and Tunis. She studied the
spiritual world which enslaved Black people would
have brought with them into these lands. Her results
were presented in Pâques (1964). To her surprise, what
she found was a conception of the world common to all
peoples of North and West Africa, a conception as
characteristic for an anthropologist as a typical biface
would be for an archaeologist (Pâques 1964: 10).
Everywhere she found one or another variant of the
following cosmogony:
1. God created the world by exploding Canopus, the
primeval star. From Canopus exited the triple
serpent it held in its matrix, which commands all
divisions of the world by three. The explosion of
Canopus gave birth to six other stars, which
command all divisions of the world by seven.
2. The world turned back when a hero (sometimes a
smith) decapitated the serpent, which was the
prelude to all circumcisions.
3. The hero descended to the Earth through the triple
cosmic tree formed by the body of the decapitated
serpent.
4. The hero ascended the cosmic tree later, on the
occasion of a second sacrifice of the serpent, which
was the prelude to all marriages.
5. These mystic events occurred at a determinate point
of the sky, at a moment when the sun was in a parti-
cular relation with Canopus, for the explosion, and
with the Pleiades for the sacrifices. (On the planets’
layout, the Pleiades are assimilated with Venus).
This myth defined the rules that organise every aspect
of traditional North and West African life. From
political, territorial and social structures to the divi-
sion and rhythms of the heavenly movements, from
the division of the agricultural year by means of
certain constellations, to the design of clothes, shoes,
coiffures and everything that could reflect this system
in daily life.
The myth is deeply associated with three colours –
white, red and black – respectively related to the triple
serpent inside Canopus. Number 3 (and 60-based counts)
is associated with women, while 4 (and 80-based
counts) are associated with men. Number 7 (=3 + 4)
represents the union of a man and a woman.
As to the origin of this African cosmogony, different
opinions have been posed, ranging from a Mediterra-
nean to an Oriental or Indian one. Nevertheless, the
internal coherence, originality and distribution map of
this myth make Pâques suggest that it originated at a
very ancient date in some agricultural community
living in a subdesert territory, perhaps around some of
the Saharan oases where these conceptions are most
fully preserved (Pâques 1964: 676).
What can be said about the astronomical and mathe-
matical implications carried by the antiquity, originality
and complexity of this cosmogonical system? This is
probably one of the most interesting open problems for the
history of ancient sciences, and the Canary Islands have
something to say here.
The Canarian Evidence
In the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries AD, Grand
Canary and Tenerife were inhabited by Berber
populations – called Canarians and Guanches – coming
from the nearby continent on different occasions
 Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers 1365

between the first millennium BCE and the first which gives its name to the mountain. The precise
millennium AD. These populations remained relatively orientation of these doors assures that sunlight only
isolated until the European rediscovery of the Islands in enters the cave at sunrise (Fig. 3) and sunset (Fig. 4) on
the late thirteenth century. At that time the population a few days around the summer solstice.
of each island was about 40–60,000, sustaining a Seen from south its appearance is diametrically
developed agricultural (barley, wheat) and stock raising opposed, plunging abruptly from its top to the bottom
(goats, sheep, pigs) economy. The written sources point of a ravine. On this slope there is a group of spacious
out the presence in both islands of a powerful priestly and sophisticated artificial caves excavated in the rock,
class, in whose religious system the sun, moon and among which stands out the Cave of the Pillars. This
stars played a very important role. cave is fully illuminated by the rising sun on winter
solstice days (Figs. 5 and 6).
At the top of the mountain there is a little ritual
Grand Canary Island esplanade of some 10 × 5 m. partially excavated on the
The Canarians used a synodic lunar calendar for daily rock (Fig. 2). Open to the east and south, on the wall
life. The lunar year was adjusted to the solar year at the facing the east there is a carved sign about 2.4 m. long
summer solstice. Although nobody mentions an with JUUU form (Fig. 8).
intercalary moon, the first new moon after the summer
solstice marked a new year and was feasted. Actual
calendrical figures are very scarce but they mention a
lunar synodic month of 29 days, a lunar year of 12
months, and a certain period of 520 days, which is an
exact measure of one and a half eclipse years or three
passes of the Sun by the lunar nodes (incidentally, this
is the reason why eclipses are located in three fixed
zones of the 260-day Mesoamerican sacred calendar).
There are also notices about observation of rising and
setting of stars. Sirius is the only explicitly mentioned
star but there is a clear reference to Afarakrak, a Berber
name of Canis Maior, in Facaracas, the preserved name M
of an important site where the nobility of the island
used to meet.
Archaeoastronomical research undertaken from
1985 at the mountain of Cuatro Puertas (Four Doors)
has revealed several methods for observing the
solstices and other astronomical dates. Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
The mountain is an isolated arid volcanic semicone Fig. 2 Ritual esplaaade at the top of Cuatro Puertas after
oriented east–west with an elevation of 319 m. above Berthelot (1879).
sea level. Seen from the north (Fig. 1) its slopes are
smooth and rounded. All that stands out is the big
artificial cave with four entries located near the top,

Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers. Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 1 The mountain of Cuatro Puertas after Berthelot Fig. 3 Summer solstice sunrise at Cuatro Puertas cave. Photo
(1879). by José Barrios García.
1366 Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 4 Summer solstice sunset at Cuatro Puertas Cave. Photo
by Jose Barrios Garcia.
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 5 Winter solstice sunrise from the Cave of the Pillars.
Photo by José Barrios García.
Every day at sunrise the silhouette of the rock
located in front of the sign casts a certain shadow that
changes its position day by day, reflecting the
azimuthal change of the sunrise. The left edge of the
shadow reaches the different strokes on determined
dates, while the whole shadow fits the sign just on the
summer solstice days (Figs. 7 and 8).
The Canarians used certain characters to record
numerical, astronomical and calendrical data systemat-
ically. These figures were triangles, squares and circles
painted in white, red and black on wood planks and on
the walls of certain caves. The modern reconstruction
of the decoration of the Painted Cave of Gáldar
strongly suggests the use of a 3 × 4 chessboard, named
acano, to represent 12 moons (Figs. 9 and 10).
A systematic analysis of the acano as a lunar
calendar shows how the vertical numeration of its
squares forces the solstitial, equinoctial and eclipse
Moons to move across the board in very simple and
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 6 Winter solstice sunrise illuminating the cave of the
Pillars. Photo by José Barrios García.
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 7 Summer solstice sunrise from the sign of Cuatro
Puertas. Photo by José Barrios García.
stable patterns. These patterns provide a safe and clear
mnemonic guide for performing on the acano an easy
arithmetical calculus of seasonal and eclipse moons
over extended periods of time. This calculus establishes
the octaeteris and the 135-Moon eclipse cycle as basic
periods of the acano.
Tenerife Island
The Guanches, as the Canarians, used a synodic lunar
calendar for daily life, adjusting it to the solar year at
the summer solstice. Also mentioned is the use of tally
boards and small necklaces of clay beads for
recordkeeping, although the absence of well-preserved
examples in a reliable archaeological context impedes
testing these accounts. Nobody mentions an intercalary
moon, but the first moon of the year occurred towards
the middle of August and was celebrated. This festival
exists today in the traditions of the Virgin of
Candelaria, patron of the island, whose apparition to

Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 8 The shadow at Summer solstice sunrise fitting the
sign of Cuatro Puertas. Photo by José Barrios García.
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 9 The Painted Cave of Gáldar after Verneau (1889).
Mathematics and Astronomies of the Ancient Berbers.
Fig. 10 The acano chessboard.
the Guanches is reported to have occurred about 100
years before the Spanish conquest in the late fifteenth
century. A close analysis of these traditions shows that
they match a Guanche cult to a stellar deity considered
Mathematics and astronomies of the ancient Berbers 1367
the “mother of the sun” as well as the “mother of the
one who sustains the world.”
Besides the main festival that occurred about the
middle of August, there were two other important ones
occurring in early February and late April, respectively.
These three periods can be readily correlated with
the heliacal rise, acronical rise and heliacal set of
Canopus. On the whole the gathered evidence proves
the presence in Tenerife of the Canopian cosmogonical
system described by Pâques (1964).
Further evidence concerning the determination of the
year of apparition of the Virgin to the Guanches
supports the idea that the Guanches used a commensu-
rability period of 19 solar years ≈21 sidereal lunar
years in their calendrical reckonings.
References
Abassi, A. B. El. Voyages d’Ali Bey El Abassi en Afrique et en
Asie, pendant les années 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, 1807.
Vol. 1. Paris: Didot, 1814, http://gallica.bnf.fr/document?
o=N103585
Barrios García, J. The Guanche lunar calendar and the Virgin
of Candelaria (Tenerife, 14th–15th centuries). Proceedings
of the Second SEAC Conference (1994). W. Schlosser. Ed.
Bochum: Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr-Universität,
1996. 151–62.
---. Tara: a study on the Canarian astronomical pictures.
Part I. Towards an interpretation of the Gáldar Painted M
Cave. Ancient Times, Modern Methods. Proceedings of
the Third SEAC Conference (1995). F. Stanescu. Ed. Sibiu:
Lucian Blaga University, 1999. 24–36.
---. Tara: a study on the Canarian astronomical pictures. Part
II. The acano chessboard. Proceedings of the Fourth SEAC
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1368 Mathematics: Aztec mathematics

Klingenheben, A. Zu den Zählmethoden in den Berber- Mathematics: Aztec Mathematics. Table 1 The Nahuatl
sprachen. Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprachen XVII number sequence
(1926–27): 40–51.
Lubeuf A. Astronomía en Xochicalco.–La Acrópolis de 1 ce
Xochicalo–.B. de la Fuente et al. Ed. México: Instituto de 2 ome
Cultura de Morelos 1995. 211–87. 3 ei, yei
Pâques, V. L’Arbre Cosmique dans la Pensée Populaire et 4 nahui
dans la Vie Quotidienne du Nord-ouest Africain. Paris: 5 macuilli
Institut d’Ethnologie, 1964. 6 chicuace (5) +l
Pietschmann, R. Ueber die Kanarischen Zahlworte. Zeits- 7 chicome (5) +2
chrift für Ethnologie XI (1879): 377–91. 8 chicuei (5) +3
Prasse, K. -G. Manuel de Grammaire Touaregue (Tahaggart). 9 chiconahui (5) +4
Vol. 2 (IV-V). Nom. Copenhague: Akademisk Forlag, 1974. 10 matlactli
Servier, J. Les Portes de l’Année. Rites et Symboles. Paris:
11 matlactli once 10 +1
Robert Laffont, 1962.
12 matlactli omome 10 +2
---. Tradition et Civilisation Berbères. Les Portes de l’Année,
2e. ed. Monaco: Rocher, 1985. 13 matlactli omei 10 +3
Verneau, R. Habitations, sépultures et lieux sacrés des anciens 14 matlactli onnahui 10 +4
canariens. Revue d’Ethnographie 8 (1889): 221–72. http:// 15 caxtolli
gallica bnf.fr/document?o=N103585 16 caxtolli once 15 + 1
17 caxtolli omome 15 + 2
18 caxtolli omei 15 + 3
19 caxtolli onnahui 15 + 4
20 cempoalli one score
30 cempoalli ommatlactli 20 + 10
Mathematics: Aztec Mathematics 37 cempoalli oncaxtolli 20 + 15 + 2
omome
40 ompoalli 2 × 20
60 eipoalli 3 × 20
M ICHAEL P. C LOSS 100 macuilpoalli 5 × 20
400 tzontli
The tribal records of the Aztecs indicate that they left 401 centzontli once (1 × 400) + 1
their legendary homeland in AD 1168 and founded 405 centzontli onmacuilli (1 × 400) + 5
their capital Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City) in 500 centzontli ipan macuilpoalli (1 × 400) + (5 × 20)
1325. By the fifteenth century, their capital had become 8,000 cenxiquipilli 1 × 8,000
the center of an expansionist empire. When Cortés
arrived in 1519, Tenochtitlan dominated all other cities
and had reached the height of its power and magnifi-
cence. The language of the Aztecs, Nahuatl, is still
spoken today in Central Mexico. An overview of the
Nahuatl number sequence is given in Table 1.
The term for five, macuilli, derives from maitl
“hand”, cui “to take” and pilli “fingers”. It means
something like “fingers taken with the hand”. The term
for ten, matlactli, comes from maitl “hand” and tlactli
“torso”. The term for 15 is a new basic word for which
there is no known etymology. The vigesimal nature of Mathematics: Aztec Mathematics. Fig. 1 Aztec numerals:
the number system clearly shows up in the introduction (a) 1; (b) 20; (c) 400; (d) 8,000 (Drawing by Closs).
of new basic terms for 400 and 8,000. The word for
400, tzontli, means “hair” or “growth of garden herbs”.
In either case, it signifies multitude or abundance. The tzontli, “hair” or “growth of garden herbs”. Similarly,
word for 8,000, xiquipilli, refers to a “bag of cacao the sign for 8,000 reflects the word for that number,
beans”. xiquipilli, “bag of cacao beans”.
The Aztec had written numerals for the first four A tally of these four numerals was used to represent
vigesimal powers: 200 = 1, 201 = 20, 202 = 400 and other numbers. Thus, quantities from 1 to 19 were
203 = 8,000. These symbols are shown in Fig. 1: (a) a represented by the appropriate number of dots or circles.
dot represents the unit 1; (b) a flag represents 20; (c) a In the same way, multiples of 20 less than 400 were
hank of hair or garden herb represents 400; (d) a bag of represented by repeating the sign for 20 as many times as
cacao beans is used for 8,000. It can be seen that the necessary. Similarly, the symbols for 400 and 8,000
symbol for 400 reflects the word for that number, were repeated to form multiples of 400 and multiples