Anatolian Weights and Measures

Weights And Measures Systems From Egypt And Mesopotamia To Anatolia

Systems of weights and measures first developed in Egypt and Babylonia for the purpose of measuring quantities of agricultural products and land, and standardising commercial transactions. The Egyptians are known to have first used scales around 3500 BC, and the ancient Greeks and Romans made wide use of instruments such as scales, steel yards, measuring containers and rulers, many examples of which have survived to the present day.

In the prehistoric period weights were often made in the form of animals, particularly sleeping ducks with their heads swivelled along their backs, and detailing worked in relief and engraved. Such weights in various sizes were most often carved from hematite, but also occasionally from white or cream coloured rock crystal. Motifs engraved on the undersides are thought to be marks identifying the owner. Dating from 2000-1000 BC, such weights have been discovered at the sites of many Anatolian cities, and must have represented multiples of units such as the mana and shekel, used in the countries of the Near East at that period. Bronze balance pans and a cylindrical seal impression dating from 1900 BC demonstrate that scales were used, and that their weights were either of lead or stone. During the Assyrian Trading Colonies period silver ingots or marked rods measured by weight were used as vehicles of exchange.