The Development of Mathematics Practices in the Mesopotamian Scribal Schools: Tablets and tokens, lists and tables, wedges and digits, a complex system of artefacts for doing and learning mathematics, 2000 years BCE

International audienceThis chapter proposes a view on a particular moment in the development of mathematics and the learning of mathematics, 2000 bce in Mesopotamia: a particular moment regarding the medium, with the development of writing and of systems of signs; particular regarding the development of mathematics, with the development of a sexagesimal positional numerical system and of associated algorithms; particular regarding the places dedicated to learning, with the development of scribal schools; and, last but not least, particular regarding the ‘supports’, with the use of clay tablets ‘still alive’ today. It aims to evidence the complex system of artefacts supporting mathematical practices, and mathematics teaching and learning in scribal schools