At first an inch was the width of a mans thumb. It does not include derived units further unless they are also themselves human based.
Measurement Of Length Standard Units And Instruments
Ancient measurement using body parts. These units are thus considered to be human scale and anthropocentric. The ancient egyptian units of measurement are those used by the dynasties of ancient egypt prior to its incorporation in the roman empire and general adoption of roman greek and byzantine units of measurementthe units of length seem to have originally been anthropic based on various parts of the human body although these were standardized using cubit rods strands of rope and official. Another measurement that i use is an inch made by bending my ring finger into a tabletop shape. Example carpenters use their thumb to measure small insignificant measurements. The romans used this measurement and so can you. Archaeologists have uncovered many simple measurement tools along with units of measurement used by ancient societies.
What an interesting post. A more accurate way use your body parts to estimate length is to know your own measurements. As ancient civilizations progressed to the need for keeping account of things people used parts of the body as the quickest and easiest way to measure something. Devin johnston on january 21 2009 259 am. Related to the last point the french word for inch is pouce which also. This is a list of units of measure based on human body parts or the attributes or abilities of humans.
Interesting enough many of these tools have changed very little over the years and are still in use today as part of modern day society. At some point years ago i picked up the seemingly useless piece of information that an ancient unit of measurement called the cubit was the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Use body parts for biblical measurements. The width of your own palm the length of your own foot and so on. Long before the thumb would be used to measure almost everything. In body based units of measurement at interesting thing of the day i listed a few such historical units of measure which can still come in handy for rough approximations if you dont have a ruler or tape.
The length of a foot the width of a finger and the distance of a step were all accepted measurements. In ancient times the body ruled when it came to measuring. Measurement of objects using body parts the handful the thumb measures 1 inch which is now the basis of measurement. These estimates are just that. In the 14th century king edward ii of england ruled that 1 inch equalled 3 grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise. 10 responses to body parts as tools of measurement chris on january 21 2009 136 am.
Before we had precise standardized units of measure such as meters and feet lengths and even ocasionally volumes were reckoned based on the average dimensions of human body parts. For an average adult male at least average as of a couple of millennia ago a cubit works out to about 18 inches 457cm. After sizing up artifacts according to both ancient and contemporary measurements theyve discovered that. Measurement tools have a long history which reaches all the way back to ancient times.
Gallery of Ancient Measurement Using Body Parts
