In the 1960’s, while working in the Hughes Aircraft Satellite Division, I was involved in demonstrating satellite communications to the airline industry when NASA began asking for reports in the Metric System. It was not used in the aviation industry at that time.
This demand caused a number of us to study the history of the metric system. We found that in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I introduced the British Imperial System and about 70 years later, the French introduced their pendulum derived Metric System.
I will never forget-the length of their new Yard (meter). It was 993.7 mm.
55 years later, when studying Ancient Sumerian Standards of Measure,
I found a Yard which was exactly 993.7 mm long.
The Obvious question was - did the Sumerians develop this Standards using a pendulum? I had to find out-- this Book describes some of what was discovered.
History
In 1671 the Frenchman Jean Picard proposed a measurement system where a pendulum operated at 45 degrees north latitude with a beat (half period) of one second would establish the length of the new standard French Yard to be called a Meter. This Meter would be subdivided into 100 centimeters and 1000 millimeters. The standard of Volume to be called a Liter would be established as the volume of a 1/10 meter (10cm) cube. This Liter could be considered the volume of 1000 cubic cm or 1/1000 the volume of 1 cubic meter. The standard of weight would be established as the weight of one liter of water at a temperature of maximum water density of approximately 4 degrees C.
5000 years Earlier the Sumerians would develop exactly the same standard length to be called a Step and the same standard volume to be called a Sila. The weight of 1/2 Sila of water at room temperature would become the Mina.
When the French invented the metric system, it was already 5000 year old
The Sumerian rules used to convert a standard of length to ones of volume and weight were identical to the French proposal. They would be used for all of 5000 years until Queen Elizabeth chose to change the Rules in the 16th century.
Proof that these Ancient Standards of length were pendulum-derived is not always as easy as comparing pendulum-derived length to an Ancient standard of length.
In some cases, the only standards that remain today are those of volume or weight. Fortunately, ancient standards of volume were derived directly from the cube of a linear dimension. Standards of weight in turn were derived from the weight of a standard volume of water at room temperature. In some cultures, standards of weight existed for a variety of grains as well, however a standard using water was always established
While there may be thousands of ancient weights in museums throughout the world we were fortunate to have available a list of 74 weight certified to be “standards of the land” by Dr. Marvin Adell Powell Jr. in his doctoral thesis at the University of Minnesota 1971. Later in our study we would add Weights certified by A. E. Berriman O.B E. in his book Historical Metrology published in 1953, and weights reported by Sir Arthur J. Evans in an article “Minoan weights and mediums of currency from Crete, Mycenae and Cyprus in the book Corolla Numismatica, published 1906 by the Oxford University Press.
In order to establish the length of a pendulum as an official standard the Sumerians would have been required to establish accurate and reproducible intervals of time. Fortunately, the Sumerians were expert Astronomers and would have had no trouble establishing intervals of time based on the motion of the Moon, the Sun and, the Stars as well as the motion of the planet Venus.
Time interval for the full moon to travel one diameter in the night sky at Apogee is a little over 121 seconds. This Time interval was used to establish what I called the Lunar Standard of Lagash. The Sumerians used a sexagesimal system of mathematics and had divided the circle into 360 parts which we call degrees. The Time interval for the Sun to travel one degree in the sky is four minutes or 240 seconds which was used to develop the Solar Standard of Ur. A star appears to travel a little faster and the planet Venus a little slower. a star was were used to develop the Egyptian foot while Venus was used to establish the Minoan foot.
We found that the Sumerians in Lagash had discovered that their Cable of 360 steps or yards was a little longer than the length 1/360 of a degree on the polar circumference of the earth. They made three attempts to adjust the length of their Cable of 360 steps to be equal to 1/360 of a degree on the polar circumference.
The length of this cable would establish the length of 1000 new “Geodetic” feet.
The Table 1.1 below is a summary of the Ancient standards of length and the resulting volumes and weights this Book will establish.