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14 - The measurement of time and distance in the heavens above Mesopotamia, with brief reference made to other ancient astral sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
David Brown
Edited by
Iain Morley  and
Colin Renfrew
Iain Morley
Affiliation:
The MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Colin Renfrew
Affiliation:
The MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
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Summary

The evidence concerning mensuration and numeration to be gleaned from clay tablets unearthed in and around Mesopotamia has much to say of profound importance for the history of human cognition, if indeed human cognition has a history and we are not merely tracing the results of individual endeavour. We should, for the sake of the perceived relevance of our disciplines, be prepared to state how our research might permit us to say something about ‘becoming human’, and I will, in particular, in the following react to the supposition of the editors of this volume who, when organizing the symposium from which these chapters are derived, wrote that

the construction of measurement systems implies, in a certain sense, the construction of new means for recognizing and engaging the material world, in a broader sense for cognizing the world. It is in this process that both aspects of spirituality and the more specific conceptions of early religions must emerge.

I will concentrate on the evidence pertaining to the measurement of distances and times in the heavens mainly from Mesopotamian, but also briefly from Greek, Indian, Iranian, and Chinese sources, and the implications thereof for ‘becoming human’. This will be preceded by some comments on the earliest evidence for numeration and measurement in Mesopotamia, matters that concerned the assembled delegates in particular, but first a note of caution must be sounded.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Archaeology of Measurement
Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies
 , pp. 183 - 194
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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