The Bellacoola were indigenous to British Columbia. To expand search, see Indigenous Mathematics of North America. Laterally related topics: The Inuit and American Indians.
The Mathematics and the Liberal Arts pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines. The notes in these pages are intended as much to evoke ideas as to indicate what the books and articles are about. They are not intended as reviews. However, some items have been reviewed in Mathematical Reviews, published by The American Mathematical Society. When the mathematical review (MR) number and reviewer are known to the author of these pages, they are given as part of the bibliographic citation. Subscribing institutions can access the more recent MR reviews online through MathSciNet.
Wren, R. L. and Rossmann, Ruby. Mathematics Used by American Indians North of Mexico. School Science and Mathematics 33 (1933), 363--72.
Surveys the use of numbers and geometric shapes in various North American indigenous peoples. Includes sacred numbers, number words, including an unusual instance of subtractive number words in the Bellacoola of British Columbia, number systems, reckoning of time and seasons. Also includes geometric characteristics of dwellings and (briefly) textiles, basketry, pottery, and tattooing. Often pottery designs were borrowed from textile art. A common principle in weaving is that no line, curved or otherwise could intersect itself. (Is this principle partly responsible for the popularity of spirals?) Reprinted in Swetz, Frank J., From Five Fingers to Infinity. Closely related topics: Indigenous Mathematics of North America, Numerology, Number Words, The Reckoning of Time, Pattern, Weaving, Basket Making, Pottery, and Tattoos.