一九八○年春,考古人员在内蒙古自治区乌兰察布盟卓资县的忽洞坝村清理一座契丹古墓时,发现了二十支用象骨制成的方形小长棍;长约十二厘米;宽厚约零点四厘米,且两端微细。当地社员一度误以为这是些象牙筷子,经过科学工作者的考证证明是我国和世界上最古老的计算器“算筹”。算筹,始用于公元前十世纪的周代。此后,直到公元十五世纪,它作为我国古代主要计算工具的地位才被算盘所取代。 In the spring of 1980, when an ancient archeologist cleaned up an ancient Khitan tomb in Khodongba village, Zhuolizhu, Wulanchabu, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Two centimeters; width of about 0.4 centimeters, and both ends of the fine. Local members once mistakenly thought it was ivory chopsticks, after scientific research proved that our country and the world’s oldest calculator “count.” Calculated, began to be used in the tenth century BC Zhou Dynasty. It was not until the fifteenth century AD that its position as the chief computational tool of ancient China was replaced by abacus.