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5 - Language in Numbers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

Karenleigh A. Overmann
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Tom Wynn
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
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Summary

Since we are taking an archaeological perspective on numbers, our interest in language is relatively narrow. Language can provide insight into the use of the fingers as a material device for counting, as well as whether ancient peoples shared the perceptual experience of quantity that influences form and function in the material devices that follow the fingers. Language can also reveal something about the processes through which numbers emerge and become elaborated, particularly in the form of characteristics indicating that ancient numbers emerged and elaborated through the same processes observable today in contemporary peoples. Finally, language can provide a basis for estimating relative age in numbers, albeit with several caveats.

Type
Chapter
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The Materiality of Numbers
Emergence and Elaboration from Prehistory to Present
, pp. 94 - 124
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Language in Numbers
  • Karenleigh A. Overmann, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Foreword by Tom Wynn, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Book: The Materiality of Numbers
  • Online publication: 11 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009361262.007
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  • Language in Numbers
  • Karenleigh A. Overmann, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Foreword by Tom Wynn, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Book: The Materiality of Numbers
  • Online publication: 11 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009361262.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Language in Numbers
  • Karenleigh A. Overmann, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Foreword by Tom Wynn, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • Book: The Materiality of Numbers
  • Online publication: 11 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009361262.007
Available formats
×