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Who Invented Counting?...

Here's what probably happened. A long time ago - so long it would make your head spin around to think about it - there lived a boy with an unpronounceable name. So we'll call him Brian.

Brian didn't know how old he was because Stone Age people hadn't invented numbers yet. But he was strong and clever, so his dad made him Keeper of the Sheep.

Back then, children didn't go to school, because school hadn't been invented either. Not much had been invented, actually. Even history hadn't happened yet.

Only one thing matters, son, said his father."As night falls, you must bring back all the sheep that you take out with you in the morning."

Now that was a worry...

thought Brian. Numbers hadn't been invented yet, remember, so there was no way of counting them. Brian settled down to watch his sheep. "I know," he thought to himself, "I'll give them all names, and then I'll remember them." He amused himself for hours giving them funny nicknames: Black Nostrils, Wonky Ear and Big Bottom were his favourites. But by the time he'd named the last sheep, he'd forgotten what he'd called the first one, even though it was hilarious.

Next day, Brian had the best idea in the history of the world (well, so far anyway). As his sheep filed out in the morning, he put one stone in his pouch for every sheep that went past him, and he did the same at dusk when he brought his sheep home. If he used all his stones morning and night, he knew he hadn't lost a sheep. Brian's big idea spread throughout the lands. Sadly he never made any money from it, because money hadn't been invented yet.

Historical note for people who like that kind of thing:

Brian probably lived around 8,500 BC, during the Neolithic - or New Stone Age period. The tallying system with tokens was used for 5,000 years, until somebody started to invent numbers.

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