It is easy to believe that the beginning of counting and numbers was by use of dots. Perhaps single dots represent individual people or animals. A series of dots might thus reveal the number of members in a tribe or clan or the number of game animals in a local herd. Drawing sin, which dots are clearly related to animals or human figures are not uncommon.

Certain combinations lead to the suspicion that the dot may be combined with the circle to give a crude progressive number system. Thus a central dot is one, a dot circled once is more, perhaps 10; a dot circled twice is perhaps a hundred, and a great number of concentric circles could designate an uncountable or infinite number.

Here and there is a vague hint that a zig-zag line might have something to do with numbering, each bend representing a unit. Rick art spread over several thousand years, has certainly brought together the products of a number of cultures and it would be surprising if they all used the same number symbols.

A. & B. Do the dots tell the age of the person?