More Ancient Volume Measurement
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Excavations at Nimrud continued in April/May 2024. My colleagues told me of a vessel they had found in 2022 that had markings that might indicate its intended volume and I was naturally intrigued. We retrieved it from storage and I went about testing that volume, and filmed it of course.
It held its surprises, but at least I have a theory on how it fits in with ancient capacity measures and the shift in mathematical analysis from sexagesimal (base 60) to decimal (base 10) that seems to have been occurring in Northern Mesopotamia, possibly with influence from Egyptian calculations through contact, conquest, and trade in the Levant.
Assyrians often used 'double units' compared to the those in the south. For example, they calculated weight in double minas and they had a unit (often called the 'homer') that was essentially a double bariga. But after they doubled the unit, they divided not be 120 (double the sexagesimal unit of 60), but by 100, a clearly decimal unit. This apparently led to a difference of 5/6 between many northern and southern units.
Me when my understanding of capacity increases: 😃👍
This is very cool to see. I like the process of trying to think what someone thousands of years ago would have been thinking.
I always look forward to your presentations. We don't hear about the history of this region nearly enough. Thank You!
I've seen some vessels similar to that when living in the Middle East, years ago, and they were suspended by rope hung mostly sideways, but in such a way due to the small bottom, that it was easy to tip so you could pour the contents into a glass.
That could be something similar and if so, the holes could be visual markers to help determine how full the sideways container was. Like marks on an oil can today.
This is such an interesting little mini-series.
Thank you
I feel like those markings could signify a lot other things like how much it costs for example
Much awaited, much appreciated looking forward to excellent insights as always from you.
These videos are the most wholesome thing on the internet.
You're giving Scott Prop and Roll a run for his monye with these puns! 😂😂 Thank you for sharing the thought process you go through in examining things, it's something we rarely see on TV (as I'm sure you know). Makes me a little bit nostalgic for classic Time Team, but also shows the craft is still alive and well.
I really enjoy watcing these videos, and hearing about these fascinating artefacts. Also watching you engaging in the practical side of archaology, doing experiments based on predictions can still be done when studying our ancient past.
Were it not for the 12 dots, I would say this was simply a pleasant enough vase to simply be decorative, and would have guessed that it was an adornment (as we often see vases today, after all).
Would you consider this to be one of many such measuring vessels, or is alabaster hard enough to work accurately that you might have this acting as the "standard" against which others are checked? considering how heavy it is, it would presumably be hard to use for portioning out quantities, and would more be for checking a single measure perhaps? I might be barking up the wrong tree there though.
Anyway, thank you again for showing us this, it's always great to see them.
Alabaster is not an extremely hard stone, so it can be carved, but this one was made from a very large chunk of stone and most vessels for everyday use were made of clay. Plus, this one was found in a palace, so it was an important vessel and might well have been on a royal standard that was meant to be a check on vessels used over a wider area. It is heavy and would be hard to use as a comparison directly, but a merchant could bring in their 12 double-sila measure and pour it into this one to prove it filled it up. Then that one could go on to be used again as official.
The form of this vessel is rather like an amphora, which became typical for shipping wine in the Mediterranean region. The pointed base helped it to be stored in racks in the hold of a ship. I don't know if that means anything here, but it could have been an official wine storage vessel, I suppose.
The camp looks pretty comfortable-even if not scenic.
Careful. I worked at a place where everyone had similar equipment and I marked everything with 7 dots. Things I couldn't mark, I drilled 7 shallow holes, like into handles. My rig is hanging off a shelf with nine different marked tools.
Good point. It could be a personal identifying mark. I'd hope to find more such marked pieces in close proximity if it is an identifying mark of that sort, and we do find maker's marks on bricks that repeat. Sometimes there are potter's marks, but they tend to be a bit more elaborate. Your point is well taken, though, as anything can be an identifying mark.
The "twice the weight as in the south" comment reminds me of travelling to some places where people use new and old currencies, or monetary systems depending on the region. When you ask the price in some places, you need to remember to divide by five then multiply by ten to get the current price, and negotiate accordingly. Haha
A bit surprised that you filled it with small stones since I'd worry about damaging the inside (and to a lesser degree, how settling affects the gross measure), but I'm guessing that water has some risks too. I do like the indicator for "This will get X many people drunk" …but maybe I'm projecting a little bit.
Something like uniform sized plastic pellets would be ideal. But, of course, they don't have Something like that lying around the dig site.😅
The timing here feels... Just In Time, given my latest video on creating custom measurements for fantasy worlds :D Thank you so much for your insights!
Are you plugging your video/channel on someone else's Channel? Ha
*flashbacks to the RlA Powell article*
Would they have needed to dig holes to stand it up right? Could they have had trivets to hold it instead?
Hello doctor, I write from Brazil, with great interest in your work, there is a lot of talk about 3D printing, and now about artificial intelligence, is it possible to use them in the reconstruction of affected sites?
It is possible and we think that printing replicas of the decorated reliefs would be a good plan for some of the buildings at Nimrud. Thus far I have only experimented with 3D printing small objects, but I understand they can do much larger and we are planning an exhibit of 3D printed Assyrian reliefs at the Penn Museum soon, so we will continue to look into it for reconstructing sites as well.
Do we have any understanding of the names of the measuring amounts - either liquid or dry ?
Not exactly, though the smallest unit in the cuneiform texts for both length and weight is 'grain' almost certainly meaning a barleycorn. I suspect volume may also have been calculated in grain originally, though all of the units went through modification, typically through royal decree or reform.
What does the inside surface look like? Are there any stains or residue from the substance it used to contain?
The opening is narrow and it's hard to see much inside. What I could see was relatively smooth with no obvious residue.
May I ask who funds your digs in Iraq? I'm assuming the university.
I am trying to get funding for my project, 'Nomad Usaily' in Nineveh.
I'm not digging for artifacts, rather building up the mud brick wall around the city.
I need help - financial backing. Would your university be interested?
Choice of place to dig is up to the Iraqi government, guided in part by the research question and proposal of the expert asking for the permit. We can't dig without Iraq's permission and participation, so the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage is the most important part. They typically want the backing of a well-known institution (museum or university) to show that there is long-term commitment. The best way to get into that would be to present research at national conferences, such as the American Schools of Overseas Research, held in November.
Funding tends to come from government agencies. We spend a lot of our time writing massive proposals for what we want to do, and most importantly why it is important to do it. Grants are highly competitive and come from funds such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation.
I think the Iraqis are currently rebuilding parts of the Nineveh wall, and I believe they have assistance from Italian and German teams in that.
Kalkhu not Nimrud please, thanks
Btw you used pebbles so there is a lot of space in between them, use sand and you would get more as grains are smaller in size.
Shouldn't matter much since the empty space between pebbles doesn't change between being measured in the bottle and being put into the vessel.
Why do you prefer "kalhu " over nimrod
@@degolaskoma8607 because its the name of the Assyrian capital, While Nimrud is a made up one by the Muslim arab locals refering to the Quran's Nimrud which has no connection to the Assyrian capital at all.