On Some Metrological Issues Affecting Yield Estimates in Second-Millennium BCE Upper Mesopotamia

Abstract

Comparative and quantitative analyses of second millennium BCE agriculture in Upper Mesopotamia are often hindered by the use of absolute values for metrological units of surface and capacity that are based on third millennium southern Mesopotamian documentations. The evidence suggests to the contrary that different metrological systems were used through space and time, and that both their relative and absolute values varied to a great extent, even in cases when similar cuneiform signs and/or unit names were used. This essay analyses the surface and capacity units of Old Babylonian Mari and Assyria in the Old and Middle Assyrian periods, and explores paths to establish their absolute value in modern units by focusing on their internal coherence.