A volcanic eruption is threatening the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the original home of the Ishango Bone:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/nov/08/congo-volcano-erupts-video
The Ancient Roots of Modern Mathematics
This blog accompanies the short documentary film "Plimpton 322: The Ancient Roots of Modern Mathematics” and will host a discussion of issues arising from the film. It’s for Professor Laurence Kirby’s students at Baruch College, and anyone else interested.-
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Unfortunately, some natural disasters happen in the historically important places (in this case the volcano threatens the Virunga Park – Ishango Bone). To safe the lives of people and environment are the most important aim as well as to protect the historical mathematical documents and bones. The significance of the Ishango Bone is well-known all over the world. For example, some mathematicians believe the bone might be a lunar calendar.
This actually proved us, that natural phenomenas can destroy an entire civilization and with it all the advances or evidence of their knowledge. Today people debate about the Ishingo bone being just a simple decoration or an actual evidence of how people starting counting. If this catastrophic events did not occur or had occur I think archeologist could have find more evidences of how counting really started. I think the same think has happened with tablets of clay.
While the actual purpose of the Ishango bone is still in dispute, natural disasters will continue to change history for better or worse. What lies in the aftermath of a disaster can sometimes open doors previously closed, as the draining of a lake revealing artifacts of the past, created from a sinkhole. Even global warming is said to contribute to the discovery of a wooly mammoth fully preserved in what was for centuries a frozen glacier.
This is very sad to hear a story like that because the Ishango Bone is very popular (as I mentioned before, I learned about it in my country) and if the volcanic eruption happens it will destroy not only a part of History of Mathematics but also a part of World History. Natural disasters has always threatened many places around the world and have taken a bit of History with them and these natural disasters will make history themselves. I think that they should protect the Ishango Bone; with the advancement of technology it should be easy and simple for the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect the Ishango Bone.
Volcanos erupting are nautral events and when it does become active it can be very destructive. It is like a hurricane or tornado. Natural events that happen because they do. They cannot be controlled, just got to deal with them when to do.
Just to clarify, Virunga is the Ishango Bone’s original home but it’s now in a museum in Brussels, Belgium (the former colonial power in the Congo) so the bone itself isn’t threatened.