CREATE A TIMELINE SHOWING HOW MATHEMATICS CREATED CIVILIZATION

Ian Stewart in his excellent book, Nature's Numbers, says (p. 28): "If mathematics, including everything that rests on it, were suddenly to be withdrawn from our world, human society would collapse in an instant. And if mathematics were to be frozen, so that it never went a single step farther, our civilization would start to go backward."
I say: MATH RESCUED US FROM THE COLD & DARKNESS OF THE CAVE; SAVAGERY AND SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR OF PREHISTORIC LIFE; THE BARE SUBSISTENCE OF A HUNTING-GATHERING ECONOMY.
And I've sketched an outline of what can be done:

ARTIFACTS OF CIVILIZATION DERIVING FROM MATHEMATICS
ARTI-
FACT SOURCE MATHE-
MATICS DATE(S) EXTEN-
SION COM-
MENT

Diatonic scale of music Pythagoras and Pythago-
reans Arithmetic, geometric, harmonic means 600-350 B.C. Arithmetic, geometric, harmonic sequences and averages Methods for tuning instruments; the rich field of music composition and performance

Writing Prehistoric humans Earliest writing: accounts of animals or goods Wolf bone with 55 cuts in groups of 5, from 30,000 to 25,000 B.C. Icons of tallied objects linked with tallies, later abstracted as writing about objects Latin for "writing" derives from Greek for "scrape" or "scratch", as in tallying or knotching

Housing, other than caves and huts Prehistoric humans Early geometry
and measurement ? All existing housing, penthouses, condos ?

From tribalism to city state ? Census for collecting taxes to maintain state, and its defense troops ? ? ?

Private landed property Prehistoric landowners Geometry and measurement Prehistoric times ? ?

Barter or market economy ? Accounting ? ? ?

Monthly and yearly calendars ? Calculation of lunar and solar cycles against "ground" of constellations ? Farmers could plant crops and harvest at good times ?

Calming fears about portenous astronomical events Babylonian priests Calculation of astronomical cycles ? B.C. Prediction of solar eclipses, etc. Rulers used predicted solar eclipses to seize an enemy city in panicked darkness In 193?, solar eclipse caused stampede in India, killing thousands

Craft decorations Prehistoric humans Often abstract geometric designs ? ? Abstract geometric designs found pottery from prehistoric times

ARTI- FACT	SOURCE	MATHE- MATICS	DATE(S)	EXTEN- SION	COM- MENT
Diatonic scale of music	Pythagoras and Pythago- reans	Arithmetic, geometric, harmonic means	600-350 B.C.	Arithmetic, geometric, harmonic sequences and averages	Methods for tuning instruments; the rich field of music composition and performance
Writing	Prehistoric humans	Earliest writing: accounts of animals or goods	Wolf bone with 55 cuts in groups of 5, from 30,000 to 25,000 B.C.	Icons of tallied objects linked with tallies, later abstracted as writing about objects	Latin for "writing" derives from Greek for "scrape" or "scratch", as in tallying or knotching
Housing, other than caves and huts	Prehistoric humans	Early geometry and measurement	?	All existing housing, penthouses, condos	?
From tribalism to city state	?	Census for collecting taxes to maintain state, and its defense troops	?	?	?
Private landed property	Prehistoric landowners	Geometry and measurement	Prehistoric times	?	?
Barter or market economy	?	Accounting	?	?	?
Monthly and yearly calendars	?	Calculation of lunar and solar cycles against "ground" of constellations	?	Farmers could plant crops and harvest at good times	?
Calming fears about portenous astronomical events	Babylonian priests	Calculation of astronomical cycles	? B.C.	Prediction of solar eclipses, etc.	Rulers used predicted solar eclipses to seize an enemy city in panicked darkness In 193?, solar eclipse caused stampede in India, killing thousands
Craft decorations	Prehistoric humans	Often abstract geometric designs	?	?	Abstract geometric designs found pottery from prehistoric times