It has been generally accepted in the heady world of mathematical history that the use of geometry to calculate and track celestial bodies was first done by medieval European scholars in the 14th century. As it turns out, that was about 1,400 years off the mark. Fresh analysis of ancient Babylonian tablets has revealed that those Mesopotamians used geometry to track the path of Jupiter across the sky. Their calculations and instructions are etched into clay in the cuneiform script used by the various city-states of that region. The findings are published in the journal Science.

The term 'geometry' derives from Ancient Greek and literally means "earth measurement." In the classical world, it was used heavily for centuries by the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Greeks for just such purposes, long before the tablets in question were created (ca. 400 - 50 BCE). But where these peoples were using geometry to measure lengths, areas, and volumes of objects in a physical space—i.e. on Earth, with objects you can see and touch—whoever scratched geometrical calculations of Jupiter's trajectory into clay tablets was measuring time and velocity in an abstract space; things you cannot see or touch, but must conceptualize.