How humans figured out counting

How to count or how to keep track of things.

I do not consider discussions of how to count time as having much to do with time.  Some people say humans count with base ten because humans have 10 fingers. Some get wrapped around the idea of 60 minutes and 24 hours in a day.
Here is my belief of the way  I think all the counting methods stem from how extremely primitive people figured out counting.

How did a human with a blank slate of mind, learn to count?  Here is the scenario.

Fred Flintstone is thinking about how to count.  Rather than put marks on coconuts, he looks at his hands. (hands are right in front of him)

He wants a portable counting device.  Fred looks at his left hand (or right, doesn't matter).
He starts to count.

He takes his thumb and touches the tip of his index finger,  that is one.
Now he takes his thumb and touches the middle bone of his index finger, that is two.
Then thumb touches inside bone of index finger, that is three.
Fred says ok, but I have more stuff.

So he touches the thumb to the tip of the finger next to the index finger (aka middle finger) that is four.
The thumb touches the middle bone of the middle  finger, that is five
then inside bone of  the middle finger, that is six

then the tip of bone on the ring finger, that is seven
then middle bone on the ring finger, that is eight
then inside bone on the ring finger, that is nine

now he touches the tip of the little finger, that is ten
then he touches middle bone of little finger, that is eleven
NOW he finishes up the portable calculator by touching inside bone on the little finger, that is twelve

If Fred has more than twelve things to count, he simply keeps track of each set of twelve by
opening a digit on the other hand. (from thumb to the little finger)
In this way, he can keep track of five sets of twelve.
Five sets of twelve turn out to be 60.
So he uses either twelve or 60, depending on which number is the most convenient.

If people had six fingers instead of five, then they would have used base 15.  And since there would have been six fingers on both hands, the number of minutes would have been 90. But humans typically have five fingers.  That is the way simple reality works.


So the whole deal with base 12 is nothing more than blank slate Fred Flintstone trying to develop a portable calculator without having to find a Walmart which sells Texas Instruments
devices. We have to remember, Fred had very little. But he did have fingers.