Ancient Weights and Measures

This facsimile volume of detailed catalogues prepared by Sir Flinders Petrie of ancient weights and measures, is based on examination of over 4,000 Egyptian weights within his collections. Eight standards have been identified and are described. The text discusses forms, multiples and fractions of standard weights, materials, and evidence for the adoption of different standards. A much smaller collection of steelyards, measures of capacity, lineal measures, and balances is also described and illustrated.

This volume is part of a new series comprising facsimile re-issues of typological catalogues produced between 1898 and 1937 by W. M. Flinders Petrie, based on his vast collection of Egyptian artefacts. Mostly excavated by Petrie during many seasons of campaign in the latter years of the 19th and early decades of the 20th century, these artefacts now reside in the Petrie Museum at University College, London. Long out of print, the catalogues were re-issued in facsimile by publishers Aris & Phillips in the 1970s alongside newly-commissioned titles, based on more recent examination of elements of the Petrie Collection by contemporary experts. The Oxbow Classics in Egyptology series makes a selection of these important resources available again in print for a new generation of students and scholars.