"Living with the Gods" — Neil MacGregor

david gregg D
david gregg Nov 23, 2017 17:02:41
Replying to Littlestone

Hello and thanks. Yes, metrics are intriguing. There are clear relationships between many. However for fun I always mention the Chinese units. The Shang bu was 1.005 m. The Zhou had a chi of 0.199 m later so 5 chi was 0.995 m and the bu was 6 / 5 m and so on. In modern times the British at Hong Kong standardised the local foot or chek as 14 and 5 / 8 inches or 14.625. However the Egyptian base building unit was the remen of 14.58 inches. Ironically when China metrified they defined the chi as 0.3333 m or 13.12 inches. This is very close to 2 ancient Shang chi of 13.18 inches but also to the Indus Valley foot of 13.1 - 13.2 inches and the Babylonian foot of 13 inches. Coincidence? Maybe, but 'idea stimulus diffusion' and trade may explain some ancient links. Myself, I suspect that some metrics were related simply because several cultures used scaled down geodetic measures...but that is a long and disputed story.
Prof. Dave Gregg

L Littlestone
Littlestone Nov 23, 2017 21:50:29
Replying to david gregg

david gregg wrote:
Myself, I suspect that some metrics were related simply because several cultures used scaled down geodetic measures...but that is a long and disputed story.
Prof. Dave Gregg
Might be geodetic measurements, David, but would you not also consider that many (or a least some) units of measurement relate to the proportions of the human form? The 3x6 shaku (foot) tatami mats that I mentioned earlier cater for a sleeping human, which then gave rise to practically everything else associated with Japanese architecture.

For me the interesting thing is how the shaku/foot are actually expressed materially (quite literally yardsticks). It’s one thing to say a shaku/foot is the right length for us to relate to but how do you scale that up, or carry it across borders. Just an idea, but I’ve noticed that the two shaku and three shaku bamboo rules still used in Japan show the nodes (from which the bamboo branches grow) of the bamboo occurring at roughly one shaku/foot from each other. It’s not exact of course but it’s a fairly acceptable standard, and one that traders in ancient times (I’m thinking traders along the Silk Route and beyond) might have been happy to accept.

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