Why are there so many partitions in /dev/block/mmcblk0

Question

This is my partition layout printed by fdisk . Why so many partitions and what are they for?

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 2329 MB, 2329935872 bytes
1 heads, 16 sectors/track, 284416 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16 * 512 = 8192 bytes

              Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/block/mmcblk0p1   *           1          63         500  4d Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p2              63          71          64  45 Unknown
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3              71         634        4500  46 Unknown
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4             634      284672     2272311   5 Extended
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/block/mmcblk0p5             634        4384       30000  49 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p6            4384        5946       12500  50 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p7            5946        6202        2048  51 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p8            6202        6586        3072  52 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9            6586        6842        2048  53 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10           6842        6970        1024  54 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p11           6971        7098        1024  56 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12           7099        8192        8751+ 55 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p13           8193        8577        3072  4a Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p14           8577        8961        3072  4b Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p15           8961        9089        1024  74 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p16           9089       10208        8957+ 75 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p17          10209       10240         256  76 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p18          10241       10369        1024  47 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p19          10369       10497        1024  34 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p20          10497       10657        1280  36 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p21          10657       11744        8701  71 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p22          11744       12256        4096  48 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p23          12257       12288         256  73 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p24          12289       12544        2047  26 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p25          12545       83968      571391+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p26          83969      234368     1203199+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p27         234369      272768      307199+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p28         272769      275424       21247+ 19 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p29         275425      275456         256  23 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p30            634        4384       30000  49 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p31           4384        5946       12500  50 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p32           5946        6202        2048  51 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p33           6202        6586        3072  52 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p34           6586        6842        2048  53 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p35           6842        6970        1024  54 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p36           6971        7098        1024  56 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p37           7099        8192        8751+ 55 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p38           8193        8577        3072  4a Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p39           8577        8961        3072  4b Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p40           8961        9089        1024  74 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p41           9089       10208        8957+ 75 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p42          10209       10240         256  76 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p43          10241       10369        1024  47 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p44          10369       10497        1024  34 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p45          10497       10657        1280  36 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p46          10657       11744        8701  71 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p47          11744       12256        4096  48 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p48          12257       12288         256  73 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p49          12289       12544        2047  26 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p50          12545       83968      571391+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p51          83969      234368     1203199+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p52         234369      272768      307199+ 83 Linux
/dev/block/mmcblk0p53         272769      275424       21247+ 19 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p54         275425      275456         256  23 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p55            634        4384       30000  49 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p56           4384        5946       12500  50 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p57           5946        6202        2048  51 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p58           6202        6586        3072  52 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p59           6586        6842        2048  53 Unknown
/dev/block/mmcblk0p60     

  6842        6970        1024  54 Unknown

Answer 1

Usually you can get some human readable partition names using:

 find /dev/block -path \*/by-name -exec ls -l {} \;