Numbers, Measures, and the Transfer of Goods in Prehistory

Numbers, weights, and measurements, and the systems underpinning them, have always been a fundamental part of human society. Developed at different ways and at different times, such systems have provided a foundation for science, technology, economy, and new ways of engaging with and understanding the world. This volume aims to explore the background to numbers and measurements in more detail by drawing together specialists from a growing field of research. The contributions gathered here offer new and interdisciplinary insights into how the development of mathematical ideas and systems evolved, early metrological systems, the exchange of goods and their impact, the standardization of measuring tools, and the impact of such concepts. This unique volume is deliberately set broad, both geographically and chronologically, in order to compare and contrast changes over time and between peoples, and in doing so it sheds new light on the social and scientific developments among both prehistoric and early historic societies.