Join our workshop on ancient Mesopotamian mathematics !
Thursday 4th of August from 2 to 4 pm, National Museum of Finland, inside the Baytuna Pop-up exhibition, Ateljee, 2nd floor. Free admission.
Travel back in time to experience ancient Mesopotamian mathematics!
How did ancient Mesopotamians count? How did they write numbers? What does a 3000-year-old maths exercise look like and are you ready to tackle it? Come to our workshop and find out! Cuneiform is one of the oldest writing systems of the world, originating around 3000 BC in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. In this hands-on workshop, adults and children can travel back in time to experience, with clay and styluses, the materiality of ancient mathematics. You can also learn to write your name or perhaps copy a Sumerian proverb on a clay tablet you can take home and keep for the next couple of thousand years!
The workshop is given by MA Aino Haavisto. Aino has studied assyriology (study of ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform languages and cultures), various other languages, computer science, and mathematics at the University of Helsinki. Living history through practising cuneiform writing on clay and teaching this ancient handcraft is one of her hobbies.
We would like to thank the research center Ancient Near Eastern Empires (CoE ANEE) for their support in the organization of this event.
This workshop is organized in the framework of the Bridges 2022 Family Day & Math-Art Expo, taking place in the National Museum on the afternoon of the 4th of August. On this occasion, entrance is free to the museum from 1 to 5.30 pm.
