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Weight Sets: Identification and Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2015

Robert Schon*
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology and Department of Classics, University of Arizona, Emil W. Haury Building #311, 1009 E. South Campus Drive, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030, USA Email: rschon@email.arizona.edu

Abstract

Standardized weights and measures play an important role in the economies of complex societies. Traditionally, archaeometrologists have employed individual weights as their basic units of analysis and, as a result, they have been able to address a limited range of questions concerning the economic role of weights. I propose a shift in emphasis from individual weights to sets of weights as the primary units of analysis. Using cases from the Aegean Bronze Age, I present a method for reconstructing sets of weights, offer criteria for their analysis and discuss the implications of this new perspective.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2015 

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