Mathematics, as any another breakthrough in the history of humanity, things surrounding him is part of the needs of the human being count, measure and determine everything. But the reality is that, determine a specific source for the appearance of each of the concepts that laid the foundations of mathematics is quite more complex which establish the origin of the wheel, or the origin of cartography. To start, should take into account recent studies on the cognitive ability of animals have determined that numbers, measurements and shapes are not unique concepts of the human being. With data from these studies, can presuppose that the mathematical concepts appear in societies well, although not at all in the same way. An example of the different evolution of Mathematics (numbers more specifically) in different cultures can be seen in the fact that there are some languages of isolated tribes that do not make the distinction between any number, using only as number one, two and more encompassing the latter to any number greater than two. Beyond hardly verifiable evolutionary assumptions to 100%, we can speak of the first archaeological objects found that demonstrate the emergence of mathematical concepts in ancient cultures. The first sample of mathematical concepts in our ancestors was found in a cave in South Africa, and consists of ochre rocks adorned with crevices with geometric shapes dating from 70,000 years old.

Entering the field of numbers, the first archaeological evidence we find it in the bone of Lebombo, found in Swaziland and dated at 35,000 years old. This object is a fibula of a baboon with a total of 29 indentations which, according to archaeological excavations that were conducted in 1973, were used by the women of the time to keep account of their menstrual cycles, as other bones and stones have been found with between 28 and 30 grooves, always remain a significant brand in the last. Continuing with archaeological remains, the next milestone is found in the Ishango bone, found near the source of the Nile River, northeast of Congo and environment to 20,000 years old. This bone contains a series of marks along the divided into three columns. The asymmetry of these notches suggests that these were used for purposes more functional than decorative.

It has been theorized much on the true usefulness of the notches in this archaeological exhibition, although basically two possibilities are shuffled. On the one hand that concerned a lunar calendar for six months, and another dealing with mathematical calculations. First thing would be only a slight evolution over the Lebombo bone, so that we focus on the mathematical theory we can find a great interesting peculiarity. The second of the three columns (drawing b) presents a series of notches grouped forming four numbers (11, 13, 17, 19), forming the first sequence of prime numbers recorded in history. But if What we find is a breakthrough in mathematics that markedly differentiates us from the rest of the animal Kingdom, we have to move to the first known civilizations of India, around 3,000 BC, where are the earliest evidence of a decimal system, the emergence of right angles and complex geometric shapes such as cones or cylindersas well as small and precise subdivisions rules to establish measurements. Then would come the Sumerian civilizations, Egyptian and Greek, whose advances are well known.