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<p>[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 5186401, member: 93416"]Thanks for the link. Now had time to hunt around a bit - results are a bit disconcerting.......</p><p><br /></p><p>As to the standard - my best guess would be these are gold weights and from a late date for the site, 1st century AD (or later). This would be in line with the Falk weights from Sri Lanka, also from recent work on redating the surviving version of the Arthashatra.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note the “8 gram” weight – if such it is – is spot on for a Great Kushan gold stater. But presumably these were used for gold dust or some such in South India at that time. Rather than coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think Falk made a mistake in analysing the Sri Lanka weights. He thought he had a single consistent set of weights – but it seems clear to me they were a mixed bag. The small ones are to the c. 3.43g Indus Valley “silver” standard. The larger ones - like these from Keeladi – look like the "gold" standard which seems to derive from the Indo-Greeks and came to dominate trade and finance in Kushan times – even it seems in the far South.</p><p><br /></p><p>OK – more troubling are the 21st century cultural aspects of all this. There is now nearly zero interest in weight standards in western popular culture. Around 2007 a weight from about 1200 BC was found in England (off shore actually – Salcombe). It was more or less a troy ounce and is about 1200 years older than any previous know English weight. The press did not report the find. I heard about it by complete chance – I tried to get it reported in an archaeology magazine and the staff did not bother to reply to my email. It finally got reported on line in 2019 here:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uog-tbo082619.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uog-tbo082619.php" rel="nofollow">https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uog-tbo082619.php</a></p><p><br /></p><p>But from the USA via Germany - not Britain!</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile at Keeladi they dig up some weights and only a week later it is a story in Times of India.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sounds like people in India are more interested in weights – but hang on. Are they really? The size of the weights – which is of nearly no importance – is given to 1/100th of a mm. But the weight of the weights – which is crucial – is rounded off to the nearest gram. Additionally all the serious work on the standard I know of points to either a Persian or a Greek origin for this weight standard – and it is clearly not to the Indus Valley standard that the researcher are pushing with their graffiti work – so any thoughtful analysis gets brushed under the carpet, in favour of what people would like to believe…….</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie3" alt=":(" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Rob[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 5186401, member: 93416"]Thanks for the link. Now had time to hunt around a bit - results are a bit disconcerting....... As to the standard - my best guess would be these are gold weights and from a late date for the site, 1st century AD (or later). This would be in line with the Falk weights from Sri Lanka, also from recent work on redating the surviving version of the Arthashatra. Note the “8 gram” weight – if such it is – is spot on for a Great Kushan gold stater. But presumably these were used for gold dust or some such in South India at that time. Rather than coin. I think Falk made a mistake in analysing the Sri Lanka weights. He thought he had a single consistent set of weights – but it seems clear to me they were a mixed bag. The small ones are to the c. 3.43g Indus Valley “silver” standard. The larger ones - like these from Keeladi – look like the "gold" standard which seems to derive from the Indo-Greeks and came to dominate trade and finance in Kushan times – even it seems in the far South. OK – more troubling are the 21st century cultural aspects of all this. There is now nearly zero interest in weight standards in western popular culture. Around 2007 a weight from about 1200 BC was found in England (off shore actually – Salcombe). It was more or less a troy ounce and is about 1200 years older than any previous know English weight. The press did not report the find. I heard about it by complete chance – I tried to get it reported in an archaeology magazine and the staff did not bother to reply to my email. It finally got reported on line in 2019 here: [URL]https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uog-tbo082619.php[/URL] But from the USA via Germany - not Britain! Meanwhile at Keeladi they dig up some weights and only a week later it is a story in Times of India. Sounds like people in India are more interested in weights – but hang on. Are they really? The size of the weights – which is of nearly no importance – is given to 1/100th of a mm. But the weight of the weights – which is crucial – is rounded off to the nearest gram. Additionally all the serious work on the standard I know of points to either a Persian or a Greek origin for this weight standard – and it is clearly not to the Indus Valley standard that the researcher are pushing with their graffiti work – so any thoughtful analysis gets brushed under the carpet, in favour of what people would like to believe……. :( Rob[/QUOTE]
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