ABSTRACT
The history of computing probably began with primitive man using pebbles to compute the sum of two amounts. Marshack (of Harvard) found what had been believed to be mere scratches on old bones from cave man days were in fact carefully scribed lines apparently connected with the moon’s phases. The famous Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain in England had three building stages, 1900-1700, 1700-1500, and 15001400 B.C., and were apparently closely connected with astronomical observations, indicating considerable astronomical sophistication. Work in archeoastronomy has revealed many primitive peoples had considerable knowledge about astronomical events. China, India, and Mexico were prominent in this matter, and we still have their structures which we call observatories, though we have too little understanding of how they were used. Our western plains have many traces of astronomical observatories which were used by the Indians.
