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Your current IP address is 8.222.208.146. </p> <div class="paragraphbreak" style="margin-top:0.5em"></div><div style="font-size: 16px;"> <p>Even while globally blocked, you will <i>usually</i> still be able to edit pages on <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/" class="extiw" title="m:">Meta-Wiki</a>. </p> </div> <div class="paragraphbreak" style="margin-top:0.5em"></div><div style="font-size: 16px;"> <p>If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/No_open_proxies" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/No open proxies">No open proxies</a> global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global" class="extiw" title="m:Steward requests/Global">post a request for review on Meta-Wiki</a>. You could also send an email to the <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Stewards" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/Stewards">stewards</a> <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VRT" class="extiw" title="m:Special:MyLanguage/VRT">VRT</a> queue at <kbd>stewards@wikimedia.org</kbd> including all above details. </p> </div> <p>Other useful links: <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_blocks" class="extiw" title="m:Global blocks">Global blocks</a> · <a href="/wiki/Help:I_have_been_blocked" title="Help:I have been blocked">Help:I have been blocked</a> </p> </div></li></ul><hr /> <div id="viewsourcetext">You can view and copy the source of this page:</div><textarea readonly="" accesskey="," id="wpTextbox1" cols="80" rows="25" style="" class="mw-editfont-monospace" lang="en" dir="ltr" name="wpTextbox1">==Kinds of tallies== [[File:SAM PC 1 - Tally sticks 1 - Overview.jpg|thumb|Single and split tallies from the [[Swiss Alps]], 18th to early 20th century ([[Swiss Alpine Museum]])]] There are two principal forms of tally sticks: the single tally and the split tally. A comparable example of this primitive counting device can be found in various types of [[prayer beads]]. ===Possible palaeolithic tally sticks=== A number of anthropological artefacts have been conjectured to be tally sticks: *The [[Lebombo bone]], dated between 44,200 and 43,000 years old, is a [[baboon]]'s [[fibula]] with 29 distinct notches, discovered within the [[Border Cave]] in the [[Lebombo Mountains]] of [[Eswatini]]. *The so-called ''Wolf bone'' <small>([[:cs:Vlčí radius|cs]])</small> is a prehistoric artefact discovered in 1937 in [[Czechoslovakia]] during excavations at [[Dolní Věstonice (archaeology)|Dolní Věstonice]], [[Moravia]], led by [[Karel Absolon|Karl Absolon]]. Dated to the [[Aurignacian]], approximately 30,000 years ago, the bone is marked with 55 marks which some believe to be [[tally mark]]s. The head of an ivory [[Venus figurine]] was excavated close to the bone.<ref>{{cite book |first=Graham |last=Flegg |title=Numbers: their history and meaning |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |date=2002 |ISBN=978-0-486-42165-0 |pages=41–42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Beckmann |first=Petr |title=A History of {{pi}} (PI) |date=1971 |publisher=The Golem Press |location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=978-0-911762-12-9 |page=8}}</ref> *The [[Ishango bone]] is a [[bone tool]], dated to the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] era, around 18,000 to 20,000&nbsp;BC. It is a dark brown length of bone. It has a series of possible [[tally mark]]s carved in three columns running the length of the tool. It was found in 1950 in [[Ishango]] (east [[Belgian Congo]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/~schultz/3M3/history.html |title=A very brief history of pure mathematics: The Ishango Bone |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080721075947/http://www.maths.uwa.edu.au/%7Eschultz/3M3/history.html |archivedate=21 July 2008 |publisher=University of Western Australia School of Mathematics |access-date= }}</ref> ===Single tally=== The single tally stick was an elongated piece of bone, ivory, wood, or stone which is marked with a system of notches (see: [[Tally marks]]). The single tally stick serves predominantly [[mnemonic]] purposes. Related to the single tally concept are messenger sticks (used by, e.g., Inuit tribes), the knotted cords, ''khipus'' or ''[[quipu]]s'', as used by the [[Inca]]. Greek historian [[Herodotus]] ({{circa|484|425 BC}}) reported the use of a knotted cord by [[Darius I of Persia]] ({{reign|522|486 BC}}). ===Split tally=== The split tally became a prevalent technique in medieval Europe, a time characterised by a scarcity of coinage and widespread illiteracy, to document bilateral exchanges and debts. Typically fashioned from squared [[Hazel|hazelwood]], the stick was inscribed with a series of notches before being split lengthwise. Each party in the transaction retained one half of the marked stick, both pieces bearing identical records. Over the years, this method was refined to the point of becoming virtually impervious to tampering. One such refinement was to make the two halves of the stick of different lengths. The longer part was called ''stock'' and was given to the [[stock holder]],<ref>Bunt, LNH; Jones PS & Bedient JD (1976) ''Historical Roots of Early Mathematics'', page 225, [[Prentice Hall]]</ref> which had advanced money (or other items) to the receiver. The shorter portion of the stick was called ''foil'' and was given to the party which had received the funds or goods. Using this technique each of the parties had an identifiable record of the transaction. The natural irregularities in the surfaces of the tallies where they were split would mean that only the original two halves would fit back together perfectly, and so would verify that they were matching halves of the same transaction. If one party tried to unilaterally change the value of his half of the tally stick by adding more notches, the absence of those notches would be apparent on the other party's tally stick. The split tally was accepted as legal proof in medieval courts and the [[Napoleonic Code]] (1804) still makes reference to the tally stick in Article 1333.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000006438068&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070721&dateTexte=20130113&oldAction=rechCodeArticle |title=Code civil, Article 1333 |date=1804 |quote=Les tailles corrélatives à leurs échantillons font foi entre les personnes qui sont dans l'usage de constater ainsi les fournitures qu'elles font ou reçoivent en détail. |access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref> Along the [[Danube]] and in [[Switzerland]] the tally was still used in the 20th century in rural economies. The most prominent and best recorded use of the split tally stick or "nick-stick"<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |year=2003|edition=3 |chapter=nick-stick |title-link=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Shenton |first=Caroline |title=The Day Parliament Burned Down |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199646708 |chapter=Chapter 1: Thursday 16 October 1834, 6am: Mr Hume's Motion for a New House}}</ref> being used as a form of currency<ref name="BBC_Radio_50_Things">{{cite web |title=50 Things That Made the Modern Economy |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053g7qj |website=BBC Radio |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref> was when [[Henry I of England|Henry&nbsp;I]] introduced the tally stick system in medieval England in around 1100. The tally sticks recorded a payment of taxes, but soon began to circulate in a secondary discount market, being accepted as payment for goods and services at a discount since they could be later presented to the treasury as proof of taxes paid. Then tally sticks began to be issued in advance, in order to finance war and other royal spending, and circulated as "wooden money".<ref>[https://glintpay.com/blog/how-equating-wood-with-gold-left-englands-citizens-short-changed How swapping gold for wood left England’s citizens short-changed]</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40189959 What tally sticks tell us about how money works]</ref> The system of tally marks of the Exchequer is described in ''[[Dialogue concerning the exchequer|The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer]]'' as follows: {{blockquote|The manner of cutting is as follows. At the top of the tally a cut is made, the thickness of the palm of the hand, to represent a thousand pounds; then a hundred pounds by a cut the breadth of a thumb; twenty pounds, the breadth of the little finger; a single pound, the width of a swollen barleycorn; a shilling rather narrower; then a penny is marked by a single cut without removing any wood.|}} The cuts were made the full width of the stick so that, after splitting, the portion kept by the issuer (the ''stock'') exactly matched the piece (the ''foil'') given as a receipt. Each stick had to have the details of the transaction written on it, in ink, to make it a valid record.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clanchy |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Clanchy |title=From Memory to Written Record |url=https://archive.org/details/frommemorytowrit00clan |url-access=limited |year=1979 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford, England |isbn=9780631168577 |page=[https://archive.org/details/frommemorytowrit00clan/page/n72 125] |edition=3rd}}</ref> [[File:TNA gates.JPG|thumb|Entrance gates to the UK [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|National Archives]], [[Kew]], from Ruskin Avenue. The notched vertical elements were inspired by medieval tally sticks.]] Royal tallies (debt of the Crown) also played a role in the formation of the [[Bank of England]] at the end of the 17th century. In 1697, the bank issued £1&nbsp;million worth of stock in exchange for £800,000 worth of tallies at par and £200,000 in bank notes. This new stock was said to be "engrafted". The government promised not only to pay the Bank interest on the tallies subscribed but to redeem them over a period of years. The "engrafted" stock was then cancelled simultaneously with the redemption.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carswell |first1 =John |title=The South Sea Bubble |date=1993 |publisher=Alan Sutton Publishing |location=England |isbn=978-0-86299-918-6 |page=24 |edition=Revised}}</ref> The split tally of the Exchequer remained in continuous use in England until 1826, when the conditions required for activation of the [[Receipt of the Exchequer Act 1783]] (23 Geo. 3. c. 82), the death of the last Exchequer Chamberlain, came about.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=A Short History of Tallies |chapter-url=https://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a146433.pdf |first=Rudoph |last=Robert |title=Studies in the History of Accounting |editor-first1=A. C. |editor-last1=Littleton |editor-first2=B. S. |editor-last2=Yamey |location=London |publisher=Sweet & Maxwell |pages=75–85 |date=1956}}</ref> In 1834, following the passing of 4 Will. 4. c .15, tally sticks representing six centuries' worth of financial records were ordered to be burned in two furnaces in the [[Palace of Westminster|Houses of Parliament]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Shenton |first=Caroline |title=The day Parliament burned down |url=http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/outreach-and-training/resources-for-universities/teaching-resources/open-lecture-series/open-lectures/the-day-parliament-burned-down/ |website=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]] |access-date=12 May 2019 |date=16 October 2013 |archive-date=26 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826021020/http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/education-programmes/universities-programme/university-teaching-resources/the-day-parliament-burned-down/ |url-status=dead |df=dmy}}</ref> The resulting fire set the chimney ablaze and then spread until [[Burning of Parliament|most of the building was destroyed]].<ref name="BBC_Radio_50_Things" /> This event was described by [[Charles Dickens]] in an 1855 article on administrative reform.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Dickens |author-link=Charles Dickens |chapter=Administrative Reform |orig-date=June 27, 1855 |location=Theatre Royal, Drury Lane |url={{GBurl|bT5WAAAAcAAJ}} |title=Speeches literary and social by Charles Dickens |date=1870 |pages=133–134}}</ref> Tally sticks feature in the design of the entrance gates to [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] at [[Kew]]. </textarea><div class="templatesUsed"></div><p id="mw-returnto">Return to <a href="/wiki/Tally_stick" title="Tally stick">Tally stick</a>.</p> <noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; 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