Arithmetic is certainly the oldest mathematical activity. The use of the concept of a whole number, numeral systems and the operations of addition, multiplication and division can be found in all civilizations. The invention of zero appears to have come from India. Traces of arithmetical operations have been identified on bones dating back to the Paleolithic Era, on Mesopotamian clay tablets, on Chinese turtle shells and on Egyptian papyrus; the Incas, who did not—so it seems—have writing, did develop an evolved numeral system based on knots in strings, called quipus
