Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- The Archaeology of Measurement
- Introduction: Measure: Towards the construction of our world
- SECTION I NUMBER: COUNTING, MATHEMATICS AND MEASURE
- SECTION II MATERIALISING THE ECONOMY
- 7 Measuring by weight in the Late Bronze Age Aegean: The people behind the measuring tools
- 8 The concept of weighing during the Bronze Age in the Aegean, the Near East and Europe
- 9 Measuring the Harappan world: Insights into the Indus order and cosmology
- SECTION III DIMENSIONS AND BELIEF
- SECTION IV CALENDAR AND COSMOLOGY
- SECTION V THE SPIRITUALITY OF MEASURE
- Index
- References
7 - Measuring by weight in the Late Bronze Age Aegean: The people behind the measuring tools
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- The Archaeology of Measurement
- Introduction: Measure: Towards the construction of our world
- SECTION I NUMBER: COUNTING, MATHEMATICS AND MEASURE
- SECTION II MATERIALISING THE ECONOMY
- 7 Measuring by weight in the Late Bronze Age Aegean: The people behind the measuring tools
- 8 The concept of weighing during the Bronze Age in the Aegean, the Near East and Europe
- 9 Measuring the Harappan world: Insights into the Indus order and cosmology
- SECTION III DIMENSIONS AND BELIEF
- SECTION IV CALENDAR AND COSMOLOGY
- SECTION V THE SPIRITUALITY OF MEASURE
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Κατὰ δὲ Πρωταγόραν τὸν σοφώτατον πάντων χρημάτων ἄνθρωπον μέτρον εἶναι, κατὰ δὲ Θεαίτητον τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων αἴσθησιν ἐπιστήμην γίγνεσθαι (the doctrine of the great philosopher Protagoras, that man is the measure of all things, and the doctrine of Theaetetus that, since these things are true, perception is knowledge) (Platon, Theaetetus 160 d.9). This quotation may perhaps bring to mind the Egyptian cubit, of the length of a human forearm, and its subdivisions into palms and digits. In architecture, ergonomic requirements, such as the height of a door or the measurements of a staircase, exhibit dimensions related to the human body, whose nature makes them universal and diachronic (cf. Palyvou 2005, 156 with reference to Modular Man by Le Corbusier). The technique of measurement by weight is very close to Theaetetus's doctrine that perception leads to knowledge, since everyone can feel which is the heavier of two objects held in the two hands. Thus the mechanism of the balance, which actually predates the invention of weights, in fact reproduces an action performed by the human body itself. In the tomb of Ka-irer, dating to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, there is a scene showing ingots being weighed in a curiously designed balance in the form of woman with arms stretched horizontally (Kisch 1965, 26; Lauer 1976, 77). Furthermore, the most widely occurring largest unit in various metric systems is the heaviest load that a man can comfortably carry on his shoulders, that is, about 30 kilos (Figure 7.1).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Archaeology of MeasurementComprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies, pp. 71 - 87Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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