Ancient Measurement an Abstract

Queen Elizabeth-I introduce the British Imperial System in the sixteenth century. But, the French introduced the pendulum-derived metric system about seventy years later. The length of the new yard (meter) was 993.7 millimeters. A yard of exactly 993.7 millimeters was found Fifty-five years later while studying measurements of ancient Sumerian standards. So, many people ask whether the Sumerians used these with the help of a pendulum or not? In this article, you can learn the details of ancient measurements. 

 Ancient Measurement an Abstract

About History:

Jean Picard, the Frenchman, introduced a system to measure in 1671 where a pendulum set up the new French yard standard known as the meter. The pendulum was at 45 degrees north latitude with a beat (half period) of one second. Then, this measurement would be subdivided into 100 centimeters and 1,000 millimeters. The measurement Litre was set up according to the volume of a 10-centimeter cube. We can consider it as the volume of 1,000 cubic centimeters, or 1/1000 cubic meters.

Weight Standard:

The weight standard was set up according to the weight of one liter of water at the temperature of maximum water density of near about degrees Celsius. The Sumerians set up the exact size of standard length known as Step and Standard volume as Sila about 5000 years before. The weight of mina equals the weight of half-Sila of water at room temperature. But it was 5000 years old already while the French developed the metric system. The Sumerian rules transferred a standard of length to one of volume and weight. However, it was merely for the time until Queen Elizabeth I changed it in the sixteenth century.

However, the standards existing till today are merely the volume or weight. We are fortunate that ancient standards of volume came from the cube of a linear dimension directly. The weight standard came from the weight of a standard volume of water at room temperature. You can also see weight standards available in different grains, but you can always see a standard setup using water. You need to know that thousands of ancient weights are still available in museums throughout the world. However, fortunately, we have got a list of seventy-four weights that got the certification of "standards of the land." Dr. Marvin Adell Powell Jr. was the one who gave certification to these 74 weights if available during his doctoral thesis at the University of Minnesota (1971).

Historical Metrology:

After that, we have added in our study that these are certified by A.E.Berriman O.BE. in Historical Metrology (1953). Sir Arthur J. Evans reported weight in an article named “Minoan Weights And mediums of currency (1953) from Crete, Mycenae, and Cyprus,” in the Corolla Numismatica and Oxford University Press published that. Whether the Sumerians want to set up the length of a pendulum as a social standard, they need to establish the right and reproducible intervals of time.

As they were skilled enough in astronomy, they didn't face any issues while setting up time intervals. It is essential to know that the time interval depends on the motion of the Moon, Sun, Stars, and Venus also. The full moon takes a little over 121 seconds to travel one diameter in the night sky at apogee. It is useful to set up the lunar standard of Lagash. They had a mathematics sexagesimal system that had divided a circle into 360 parts. We know that each division has a degree. For the Sun, the time it needs to travel one degree in the sky is 240 seconds or 4 minutes.

Sumerian Measure:

Discovered that the Sumerians in Lagash had found that compared to the length 1/360 of a degree on the Earth's polar circumference, the length of their cable of 360 yards was a little longer. Within three attempts, they got success in managing the length of their cable of 360 steps that is similar to 1/360 of a degree on the polar circumference. This wire length is capable of setting up the length of 1,000 new geodetic feet. People from West to East, i.e., Britain to China and Japan, — these concepts got spread throughout the Ancient World.

The Foot of the Lunar Standard of Lagash became the Anglo Saxon foot and Furlong, 1/660 furlong, the British Imperial (U.S.) respectively. The length of the third Geodetic Standard of Lagash is useful for measuring the great pyramid at Giza. The pound of this Geodetic Standard of Lagash became the British Imperial (U.S.) pound. People who don't believe in this can check by calculating the size of a 64-pound cube of water and multiplying one side's length by 1000 x 360 x 360. You got the result as the polar circumference of the Earth.

The Standards of an ancient Egypt Circa 3000 B.C.E.:

Here, you get to know some extra knowledge about standards from Egypt and the Minoan civilization in Crete. These let you know about the special standard of length, volume, and weight relying on the Earth's polar circumference.

They created a case that the people used the new standard so that they could set up the perimeter of the Great Pyramid of Giza at 30 Arc seconds. After 2000 years, people used this to set up the Parthenon's width in one arc second.

The Egyptians established their new standards and understood that compared to the Sun, a star could deliver a much higher level of precision. They realized while they measured an interval of time of a star and compared it with the Sun. It depends on the length of a Foot of approximately 300 mm. They established the Foot using a pendulum. It beat 366 times when it consumed the Earth in rotating through one 366th of a celestial day. People used the pendulum length for making a cable of 366 times twice the length of this pendulum.

The Egyptian Foot length has become 1/1000 of these Cable lengths. The arrival time of the Stars is at a similar position in the sky, about 4 minutes before every day for the orbital motion of the Earth. It is the reason why the Sumerians divided the day into four-minute intervals. We knew it as a Gesh. The Starfield is rotating 366 times in a year; therefore, this specific number is very essential to an astronomer. The new cable length is about 300 meters, whereas the Djser (Foot) is about 300 mm. All sixteen measurement standards of Egyptians were divided into Egyptian Djerba or digits 18.75 mm. People used this digit for establishing their Reman, Cubit, and Royal Cubit.

The Minoan Foots:

To the Minoans, Venus was one of the essential goddesses in (2700-1100) B.C.E. It is necessary to know that Venus's planet is closer to the Sun than Earth. This planet orbits the Sun in 244 days. The motion of Venus deducted a few apparent motions when Venus was seen on the opposite side of the Earth. The apparent motion was caused due to spinning Earth, lengthening the time for 1/366 Venus day to 236.504 seconds. As a result, it divided the celestial solar day into 366.25 parts.

The resulting cable's length was 303.6 meters, whereas the foot length was 303.6 mm. Now, the North Star elevation changes one arc-minute for each Foot when the observer moves in a north-south direction. However, the Minoan Foot can't deliver the correct amount when predicting latitude than the Egyptian Foot. 303.6 mm is the Minoan standard of length Foot, whereas 27,984 cm³ is the Minoan standard of volume. According to the Minoan standard of weight, it is 27,901 grams. You can compare it with the weight of 1 Amphora of rainwater at 20°C.

You should know that the Sumerians divided the Amphora by any of these— by 60 or by halves yielding volumes of ⅛ and 1/64 of an amphora. 437.25 cubic cm is the standard pint volume of 1/64 Amphora. We know the weight of a pound as 436.00 gm as its standard value. It equals the weight of one Pint of rainwater at 20 °C. Besides, 373.2 gm is the standard weight of a Troy pound. It is equal to the 1/60 Amphora of wheat at 0.8 kg/liter.

Immortalized Minoan Foot in the Magna Carta:

It set up the length of an ancient English foot. This ancient Foot is useful for developing standards of volume for the Gallon, the Bushel, and the London Quarter. People in 1215 documented this in the Magna Carta. The Winchester Bushel was one Minoan Cubic Foot's volume. As per the accurate measurements, the weight of one Minoan Pint of rainwater developed the English Mercantile Pound and Scottish Pound. According to them, the Troy Pound was set up by 1/60 of a bushel Amphora's weight of wheat at 0.8 kg/liter.

Besides, as per the study, the length of Japanese Shaku is 303.0 mm, which is quite similar to the Minoan Foot while you discuss the difference in latitude. Similarly, Minoans, the Japanese, were a maritime nation. The Ri of 12960 Shaku is the largest linear standard of Ancient Japan. Its length is 1/10,000, the polar circumference of the Earth.

The Minoan Foot's detail calculation: the cable of 366 pendulum length is similar to the 1000 Minoan Feet. Applying these corrections for the real pendulum's length and time will result in the following Foot, Sila, and Mina. You also get results from other corresponding measured values from trustable sources.

The Minoan Foot in Early England:

The Minoan Cubic Foot is set up as an English Bushel, and its division is established into Gallon, Pint, and Cubic Finger. This cubic finger set up the Minoan Gold Standard. On 15th June 1215, the Magna Carta of King John guaranteed the English values.

Mina of Grain of the Minoan Cubic Foot:

According to our study, we have set up the weight of a Minoan Cubic Foot of water and measured values. Surprisingly, the Troy Pound belonged to Minoan origin.

Details of the exceptional Octopus Talent of Bagdad as well as the Polar Circumference of the Earth:

It was 1901 when people found this Octopus Talent in Knossos, Crete. Sir Arthur Evans was the one who discovered it. According to him, it seemed like it belonged to Babylonian origin. This 29,000 gram Talent Weight is going to celebrate the Great Pyramid building's 1000th anniversary at Giza. According to a fast calculation, we learned that filling an amphora with 29,000 gm of water at 20 °C, it can have a volume of 29,086 ml or the volume of a 307.54 mm cube. But it is within 0.45 mm of the geodetic Foot at Lagash latitude.

If you do a normal search to modify one of the Sumerian pendulums, it can match with the length capable of producing results quickly.

Pendulum 3 could beat 360 times in 240 seconds and made the 318.56 mm Zhou Market Foot in China and the Fuss in Bern, Austria.

Conclusion:

The peoples can reproduce a few Ancient Systems of Measure after understanding them correctly. In this article, you can see a lot of findings that were not expected. Moreover, according to us, the procedure used for recreating measurement standards from the distant past is also one of the vital contributions to the history of metrology. These contributions are also very essential to the history of Science. The grasp of mathematics and physics, which ancient people wrote, was also demonstrated.