Weighing Units and Weights in the Context of Trade Between Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia (Nineteenth and Eighteenth Centuries BCE) - HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Chapitre d'ouvrage Année : 2022

Weighing Units and Weights in the Context of Trade Between Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia (Nineteenth and Eighteenth Centuries BCE)

Résumé

The archives of the Assyrian merchants, found at Kaneš in Central Anatolia, highlight the use of a weight system, well adapted to quantify the metals they traded from East to West and back. An atypical progressive metrological list of weights shows the importance of fractions in Old Assyrian numeracy and computing practices. Accounts documents reveal two different cultures for the use of weighing units according to the commodities quantified and where they were quantified. In Upper Mesopotamia, tin and silver were measured in gu, mana and gin, while in Anatolia, locally traded copper was often counted only in the mana unit. In addition, merchants had to deal with different weight standards: The Anatolian mana weighed ten per cent less than the Mesopotamian mana. Texts also mention the verification of weights and reveal methods for correcting discrepancies. A hundred and sixty stone weights found at Kaneš may be compared with the data provided by the metrological list. These weights, which show significant variations, witness the existence of many individual weight standards, and confirm the recurrent necessity to correct discrepancies.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
12-Michel-CulturesComputationQuantification.pdf ( 1.92 Mo ) Télécharger
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...

Dates et versions

halshs-03923497, version 1 (05-01-2023)

Identifiants

Citer

Cécile Michel. Weighing Units and Weights in the Context of Trade Between Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia (Nineteenth and Eighteenth Centuries BCE). Karine Chemla; Agathe Keller,; Christine Proust. Cultures of Computation and Quantification in the Ancient World. Numbers, Measurements, and Operations in Documents from Mesopotamia, China and South Asia, 6, Springer International Publishing, pp.647-689, 2022, Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter, 978-3-030-98363-5. ⟨10.1007/978-3-030-98361-1_12⟩. ⟨halshs-03923497⟩
88 Consultations
200 Téléchargements
Dernière date de mise à jour le 20/04/2024
comment ces indicateurs sont-ils produits

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Plus