I should also have mentioned that any historical archaeologist should be
familiar with the units of measurement that existed in their part of the
world. From Louisiana to California, and probably in Florida, one needs to
know about the Vara and all of its variations throughout time. Dealing
with Colonial era sites, one needs to know the difference between English
(I should probable say "Imperial") and US Customary measurements. In
dealing with French historical era sites, ones needs to know their
pre-metric system of weights and measures.
Contrary to popular opinion, Rick Sprague did NOT teach us to use the
Babylonian Cubit in our reports. As a buckskinner and frequent shooter of
black powder firearms AND as a reloader of modern ammunition, I can tell
you that ALL loading and reloading information is still in grains. All
land in the US is still sold by the acre. In cooking, the Australian
Tablespoon is 20ml while that for England, New Zealand and Canada is 15ml.
(Whee, this is fun). If you have worked on a Chinese site or with Chinese
records, you may know about : Catties (for use in older Chinese recepies).
In ancient China, 1 catty = 1.33 pound = 600 grams. In Modern China, this
went with kilograms and stuff. To make the transition easier for the
average people. They invented a new kind of catty. 1 catty = 0.5 kilo ( =
1.1 pound ). However, old books from Hong Kong and Taiwan still uses the
old catty = 600 grams. (I have been cooking Chinese food for 30 years,
ought to get the hang of it any decade now).
As the U.S. gradually goes kicking and screaming down the road toward
metric, any historical archaeologist should be able to use the historical
system of measurements and relate them in a meaningful way to both lay and
professional readers as our culture continues to change over time. No
matter what the government tells us to use, we will be able to tell what
the people have finally decided when all of the advertisements in the
newspapers are in metric. When in doubt, use all the systems necessary to
tell the tale completely to both general public readers and professionals
in our own country and those abroad who would appreciate metric. In the
meantime, I recommend leaving the "I can't fart without metric" to the
prehistorians and to those in countries who actually use and understand
metric.
Smoke (the thoroughly unrepentant).
Smoke (Michael A.) Pfeiffer, RPA
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
605 West Main Street
Russellville, Arkansas 72801
(479) 968-2354 Ext. 233
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
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