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Women and the Origins of Mathematics

The oldest evidence of quantitative techniques is lunar calendars from the Paleolithic period.

The Ishango Bone
The Congo, Africa. 25,000 to 20,000 BCE.
The markings represent a six-month lunar calendar.

The Isturitz Baton
Engraved baton made of antler. Isturitz, France. 25,000 to 20,000 BCE.
The markings represent a five-month and a four-month lunar calendar.

The Paleolithic period was characterized by the development of Goddess worship on the European continent where much of the evidence of lunar calendars has been found. This Goddess worship was marked by images of the sacred female as life giver with an emphasis on the vulva, breast, and buttocks and the use of red ochre paint representing menstrual blood

The Venus of Willendorf

Austria. 30,000 to 25,000 BCE.
Small stone image painted with red ochre. The Venus of Laussel France.

25,000 to 20,000 BCE.
The horn in her hand has thirteen marks, the number of moons in a year.

Other stylized artifacts emphasize the female vulva.

Abstract Female Form

Czech Republic. 25,000 to 20,000 BCE.
Mammoth ivory pendant in the shape of a highly abstracted female form with widespread legs and a vulva line Disc with Vulva Line

Czech Republic 25,000 to 20,000 BCE.
Circular disc representing an abstract vulva

This evidence points to the conclusion that the recognition and recording of cycles in the world, beginning with women's bodies is at the origins of human mathematical thinking. Paleolithic lunar calendars are the tics. The ethnos is a culture in which women's sexuality and life-giving capability are at the center of spirituality. The mathema then appears to be based on women's menstrual cycles as well as lunar and other natural cycles of the world.

References

Eisler, R. (1987). The Chalice and the Blade. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Gadon, E. (1989). The Once and Future Goddess. San Francisco: Harper.
Grahn, J. (1993). Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World. Boston: Beacon Press.
Marshack, A. (1972). The Roots of Civilization. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sjöö, M. & Mor, B. The Great Cosmic Mother. San Francisco: Harper.
Zaslavsky, C. (1992) Women as the first mathematicians. International Study Group on Ethnomathematics Newsletter, 7(1), 1. [online at http://www.ethnomath.org/resources/ISGEm/056.htm]

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	The Ishango Bone The Congo, Africa. 25,000 to 20,000 BCE. The markings represent a six-month lunar calendar.

	The Isturitz Baton Engraved baton made of antler. Isturitz, France. 25,000 to 20,000 BCE. The markings represent a five-month and a four-month lunar calendar.