Interesting Math Stuff #6: The Lebombo Bone

Possibly the oldest known mathematical tool is the Lebombo bone that was discovered in the mountains of Swaziland in the 1970s. It bone was dated to about 35,000 BC. The bone is a small peace of the fibula of a baboon and has 29 markings on it. Researchers have guessed that the bone was used to mark the lunar cycles. 

The Universal Book of Mathematics says, 

"One of the oldest mathematical artifacts known, a small piece of the fibula of a baboon, found near Border Cave in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland. Discovered in the 1970s during excavations of Border Cave and dated about 35,000 B.C., the Lebombo bone is marked with 29 clearly defined notches. This suggests it may have been used as a lunar phase counter, in which case African women may have been the first mathematicians, because keeping track of menstrual cycles requires a lunar calendar. Certainly, the Lebombo bone resembles calendar sticks still used by Bushmen in Namibia."