Dave L Wrote:
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> , there's no reason to think the pace wasn't
> used for measurement when measurement was applied
> - it was used by the Romans for sure.
Yes, but you haven't addressed my original question! Your objection to the Megalithic Yard, as I understand it, was that the methods used by Thom to infer its existence were unreliable. Fine; so perhaps the human pace was what was being used to survey megalithic monuments. Perhaps, then, all that Thom had discovered was nothing more nor less than repeated use of the human pace. Fair enough; but why, then, did this supposed body-based unit apparently vary by as much as 15 inches? Is there evidence for a variation in height amongst the general population that would explain such a discrepancy?
>
> But to be able to apply measurement you first have
> to have a number system in place, and be able to
> count beyond the usual 2 or 3. This isn't as easy
> as it sounds because many early societies did/do
> not have a method to count 'many'. They live in
> an analogue world where things are 'lots' 'enough'
> 'more' 'few' etc.
I see. But what about the people who put Stonehenge in place? You're saying they couldn't count, or survey, or measure? They dragged a few old bits of stone along to some hill in Wiltshire and hauled them into place by trial and error?
>
> Cattle counting etc may have been one of the
> earliest fields where number systems were
> developed. Did you know Welsh farmers still count
> sheep in sone strange archaic cumber system?
Yes - it's described somewhere in Butterworth's "Mathematical Brain".
>
> After that, you have standardised measurement
> which is a lot different to habitual measures (is
> there a better word for that? must be).
Customary measures ...
They are
> two different things entirely. One requires word
> of mouth and habit, the other requires a country
> wide organised society with a central government!
Yes ... but I'm still waiting to hear your take on how places like Stonehenge were surveyed!
Hermione
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