Egyptians mainly used their cubits to measure objects. 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.
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Ancient measurement using body parts. Your body can be used as a measuring tool when you dont have a measuring tape conveniently with you. There is little difference between what they looked like then and now. Protractors first were identified as being used in the 1600s. Cubit from latin cubitum the elbow. The width of your palm is about 4 inches 10 centimeters. Protractors which are semi circular measurement tools were used in ancient times to measure angles between two intersecting lines.
From nose to finger tip. Ancient measurement of length was based on the human body for example the length of a foot the length of a stride the span of a hand and the breadth of a thumb. Your forearm from elbow to fingertip. The semi circular tool is marked with angle measurements from 0 to 180 degrees. Eight body based units of measurement 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. Ancient people measured objects using different body parts.
It might also help you remember the measurements because you have to use parts of your body instead of inches feet and yards. The 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 measures maintained at some temples. Digit in latin digitus could mean either finger or toe. An average foot is about 12 inches long. This is a list of units of measure based on human body parts or the attributes or abilities of humans. The exact length varied according to whose arm was being used and could be from 18 to 22 inches.
Your forearm is about 15 feet 46 centimeters. A cubit was a measurement based on the forearm from elbow to fingertip. There were unbelievably many different measurement systems developed in early times most of them only being used in a small locality. Although its a nonstandard unit of measurement its conveniently with you all the time. This is called non standard measurements. Following alexander the greats conquest of persia and subsequent de.
Each persons body part differed from another persons body part. It does not include derived units further unless they are also themselves human based. 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 measurement. Using your body to estimate length your hand. For an average adult male at least average as of a couple of millennia ago a cubit works out to about 18 inches 457cm. The distance between your nose.
These units are thus considered to be human scale and anthropocentric. The same is true of digit in modern english.
Gallery of Ancient Measurement Using Body Parts
