Why Babylonians Chose Base Number 60?

My first impression of using the number 60 as base rather than 10 was simple: I thought of the clock system we use today. There are 60 seconds within a minute, and 60 minutes within an hour, so it made sense. Perhaps 60 was the "original" base number, but the number 10 was used later in many other scenarios to make counting much easier (akin to how the Chinese language was simplified). The number 12, which is a factor of 60, also serves significance in the Chinese culture, where the 12 zodiacs play a major role in people's beliefs, values and even social behavior. It's also interesting that how the square of 60, which is 360, equates to a full circle in degrees. Since the Sun and Moon were divine symbols in most ancient cultures, the number 60 could hold also significance. This was prior to being introduced the historical background of the Babylonians and doing the in-class activity with my peers. Further research into its origins somewhat confirms that I was on the right track, but there were definitely some details and facts that I was glad to uncover. One common explanation is how people could count things based on 12 knuckles on one hand and five fingers on the other, thus arriving at a multiplication to reach 60. Many papers also pointed out how 60 actually has its advantages over 10 since it has more prime factors, so it's easier to write fractions using 60, though the downside is that the sexagesimal system did not at first have the number zero. Today, many cultures still preserve the importance of the numbers 60 and 12. We still employ 60 within our time measurements, and 12 years still represent a cycle in many cultures.