Technikatörténeti szemle 10. (1978)

A MÉRÉS ÉS A MÉRTÉKEK AZ EMBER MŰVELŐDÉSÉBEN című konferencián Budapesten, 1976. április 27–30-án elhangzott előadások II. - Powell, M. A.: A mezopotámiai súlymértéktan modern szemszögből

assumption that all or most metrological norms are somehow related to one another, and, thus, the task of the metrologist reduces itself to discovering the basic norms. I mention this method in passing, because the employment of it has introduced much confusion into the study of ancient metrology, while purporting to simplify it. While part of the theoretical framework of comparative metrology indisputably rests on secure foundation, a great deal of it is characterized by intuitive and ad hoc solutions, and the scientific principles on which comparative metrology is supposed to rest have never been systematically stated in such a way that it can be recognized as a bona fide scientific theory. The only metrological method recognized as sound in the present paper is one which utilizes statistical and philological methods in combination and which has as its objective the determination of the function of metrological norms within a particular cultural milieu. The single most important question which modern metrology has tried to solve is: what constituted a Mesopotamian norm? Closely related to this question is the problem of what constituted an official norm, as opposed to local or individual aberrant norms. Most of the answers given to these questions have been inconclusive, and the reason for this is: at no time in Mesopotamian history is any one standard universally used. Mesaurement of mass in Mesopotamia goes back to the early third millennium or perhaps even to the end of the fourth millennium BC. However, it is not until about 2500 BC that one can discern the existence of the system of metrology that becomes standard for subsequent periods in Mesopotamian history. The rudiments of this system are illustrated in the diagram here that I have prepared. Unit Sumerian Akkadian English Component Units 1 gun biltum load, talent 60 mina 1 mana manum count, mina 60 shekel 1 gin siqlum weight, shekel 60x3 barleycorn (se, se'um) The system seems to have emerged from division of larger units into smaller ones, as the demands of commerce and the capacities of technology advanced. Thus, the basic large unit was the „load" that a worker could transport in carrying burdens over a relatively short distance and repeating this over and over again, such as would have been necessary in moving earth during the excavations for canals and the foundations of buildings. Out of this „load" system seems to have emerged the divergent norms that are attested in Babylonian weight metrology. The ,,load" seems to have varied between 28 and 32 kilograms. This was then divided, according to the Sumerian system of counting, into 60 minas, and each mina was divided into 60 shekels, and each shekel was held to be composed of 3 times 60 barleycorns, thus creating the metrological system which became standard for subsequent periods. Some scholars who have speculated on the origin of the Mesopotamian system of measuring mass have assumed that the system was built up on the basis of the barleycorn. This is, however, a very unlikely explanation. It is the equivalent of putting the cart before the horse, because the overall pattern of metrological development is the gradual refinement of standards, beginning with crude approximations