OI Collections Research Talk
"The Origin and Use of Weights and Hacksilver in the Bronze Age Near East"
Lorenz Rahmstorf & Nicola Ialongo
Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen
Wednesday
March 4, 2020
3:30 PM
LaSalle Banks Room of the Oriental Institute
The beginning of the use of weights in Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions is still a matter of debate. Results from an ERC research project "WEIGHTANDVALUE: Weight metrology and its economic and social impact on Bronze Age Europe, West and South Asia" offer new insights for the Near East during the Bronze Age. The presentation will give an overview of our current knowledge of Bronze Age weights and weighing systems in the region. It will also be shown that hacksilver was shaped and/or fragmented in order to comply with the weight-systems that were in use in the trade networks where it circulated.
