Additive progression in prehistoric mathematics: A conjecture

Abstract

This paper presents intriguing archaeological evidence that the practical properties of additive progression were recognized in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200 b.c.). The evidence is in the form of a set of stone balance weights excavated in the 1960s from a small cargo ship that sank off the coast of southern Turkey. It is argued that a Fibonacci-like series of integers is represented in the masses of these prehistoric items, and it is demonstrated that the manner in which the balance weights were manufactured was simple, precise, and logical.