Before alphabets, Mesopotamia counted in clay.
Earlier clay tokens and bullae inspired the signs.
Cuneiform numerals used wedge marks for ones and tens, built on a base‑60 system.
Scribes recorded grain, silver, and rations for temples and merchants.
Early tablets show fixed-value signs; later Babylonians added place value and a spacer for zero.
These numbers timed hours, mapped angles, and powered administration.