Greetings from Planet Marking :
If read one more time " I am a student " ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh as Snoopy said.
(as an aside I wonder if Snoopy was metric.)
But the issue of standards weights has been around for a long time as I
found on this web site stuff:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..... Enjoy the reading.
The assemblages of pan-balance weights recovered from the excavations of
Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun shipwrecks, in southern Turkey, comprise the
largest and most complete collection of Late Bronze Age pan0balance weights
recovered from single archaeological sites.
These assemblages owe much of their importance not only to the rare glimpse
they give us about the world of Bronze Age merchants and the consignments
of weighing implements they carried with them, but also because of the
opportunity they provide in allowing us to examine individual weights,
weight sets, and pan balances that were in concurrent use when each ship
sank. Furthermore, by being able to compare the two diachronic assemblages,
separated in time from each other by about a century, we are able to assess
whether the weight standards were subject to a gradual change or debasement
of value over time.
Combining diverse information obtained from other archaeological
excavations with data obtained from the excavations at Uluburun and Cape
Gelidonya, we are able to make observations about local and long-distance
trade and commercial patterns in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean.
This analysis will also contribute to the understanding of life and
economic activities of the international trader during the Bronze Age. From
a macro perspective, analysis of the weight assemblages should indicate
some of the driving factors or economic necessities fro standardization of
weights. An in-depth analysis of the weight collections from these Late
Bronze Age shipwrecks will draw together many sources of data, thereby
offering new perspectives on the process of standardization of trade in the
ancient world.
John Nichols BE, Ph.D. (Newcastle), MIE (Aust), Chartered Professional
Engineer
Assistant Professor
Texas A&M University
Department of Construction Science
Langford AC
Rm: A414 MD 3137
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Electronic mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Telephone: 979 845 6541
Facsimile: 979 862 1572
-----------------------------------------------------------------
a fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi
in front a precipice, behind a wolf
-----------------------------------------------------------------
