Famous findNearly 20,000 years old · found 1950
The Ishango Bone: a notched tool from the Congo that may be one of the oldest records of counting
In 1950 the Belgian geologist Jean de Heinzelin excavated a small bone tool at Ishango, on the shore of Lake Edward in what is now the DR Congo. Nearly 20,000 years old, it carries 168 notches in groups that may record counting, a calendar, or neither.