Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2021 20:32:23 GMT
Discussion
There are two main directions for money definitions. They follow either a commodity theory (money as a means of exchange) or credit theory (money as a means of account) [42]. Essentially, the discussion between them revolves around the question whether the idea or the material expression came first, and is thus a matter of directional causality. Recently, this distinction has been challenged through findings that material practices scaffold mental processes, and cognition thus has a material dimension [43–45].
Most authors emphasise that exchange of commodity money is based on perceived alikeness [2, 5–7, 9, 42]. Commodity money displays rough similarities in terms of shape and weight, because of standardization, without necessarily following a strict metrological system.
Though archaeologists have no insight in the transactions that took place, there can be no doubt that at least the rings and ribs conform to the definition of commodity money. Our analysis revealed perceptible similarity in weight between rings, ribs, and a selection of axe blades from the Early Bronze Age of Central Europe. We take this to be evidence of intentional standardization that follows from lifting objects and estimating their weight by hand [25], attesting for their use as commodity money. Standardization occurred around a weight of 195.5 grams, though this is not an absolute benchmark. It is unlikely that this exact weight was aimed for. Rather, the similarity in weight is the result of a rule of thumb corresponding to the material realities of casting metal in moulds and commodification. Moreover, in the absence of balances the shape of objects was needed to express weight through a simple ‘same form same weight equation’. Employing psychophysics and the Weber fraction for weight of 0.1 we calculated that everything in the range from 176 to 217 grams would be perceived as equal in weight to 195.5 grams. Within this perceptive category we observe that ribs and axe blades form the opposite ends, with the rings at 195.5 in the middle. This argument is statistically supported by the observation that rings, ribs, and axe blades cannot be distinguished when combined in one dataset.
The co-occurrence of these objects in hoards, sometimes even tied together such as in the find from Wegliny [46] (Fig 5), points at their interchangeability. Their overlap in weight suggests that a conversion between rings and ribs, and axe blades was aimed for in specific cases. For the EBA I, one ring or rib corresponded to one axe blade, while during the EBA II, three rings or ribs were needed to make two axe blades. Since geographically axe blades were found at the outer edges of the area where rings and ribs circulated, we interpret them as local economic articulations of commodification through which the gap between commodity and prestige good economies was vaulted [10]. The choice of axe blades as commodity money seems a logical development from the observation that axes had long been valued, and are perhaps the single most important metal tool of prehistoric farmers [47].
Not all EBA rings, ribs, and axe blades were used as commodity money. What our model shows is that many conform to a standardized weight. Some were made for a different purpose which did not impose weight limitations that we can identify with this model, however. Axe blades from the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age showed no standardization (S1D Appendix, S1 Fig in S1 Appendix).
At the end of the Early Bronze Age rings and ribs disappear and trade starts to take place in both scrap metal and (parts of) casting cakes. For such a system to operate two developments need to have been completed. The practical development of a set of scales, and the cognitive development of a system of weighing through which to operate a balance. The earliest evidence of balance weights and balances in Western Europe dates to the Middle Bronze Age, and were likely used for gold given their sizes and weights [4, 48–50]. Around the same time there is a noticeable increase in the amount of bronzes being traded from the south to the north of Europe [51].
Weights are material-symbolic facts [52]. You first need to experience differences in weight and engage with these material realities before you can articulate them conceptually. Rather than seeing rings and ribs as the material representation of a conceptual system of weight, we argue that they helped to articulate such a conceptual system. The material medium—bronze—helped to move this conceptual innovation along [43, 53, 54] because it afforded an unprecedented sameness between objects [55]. Moulds were the very first blue-prints [56] through which copies could be easily produced [57, 58]. Since human cognition is a dynamic system that includes mind, body and material forms [43, 44, 59, 60], thinking through these objects helped scaffold the cognitive framework that is needed for the development of a weight unit throughout the EBA [61].
From experience, people came to expect that rings weigh about the same (around 195 grams), resulting in a cognitive stereotype [62] of these rings and their weight. A cognitive stereotype is part of our cognitive toolbox and from this weight could be divorced from the actual physical rings, and thought of separately. Thanks to the particular affordances of bronze, equality in weight became a matter of concern and, following, a cognitive tool to think with, resulting in an abstract notion of weight. This is what allowed for a theoretical unit of weight to come into existence, which was needed to operate scales. Rings, ribs, and axe blades produced in a serial fashion and having perceptible similar weight are the material roots of a cognitive system of weighing.
We suggest that producing perceptibly identical copies of rings, ribs, and axe blades, and their use as commodity money led to an increased recognition of weight similarities and the independent emergence of a system of weighing in Central Europe.
There are two main directions for money definitions. They follow either a commodity theory (money as a means of exchange) or credit theory (money as a means of account) [42]. Essentially, the discussion between them revolves around the question whether the idea or the material expression came first, and is thus a matter of directional causality. Recently, this distinction has been challenged through findings that material practices scaffold mental processes, and cognition thus has a material dimension [43–45].
Most authors emphasise that exchange of commodity money is based on perceived alikeness [2, 5–7, 9, 42]. Commodity money displays rough similarities in terms of shape and weight, because of standardization, without necessarily following a strict metrological system.
Though archaeologists have no insight in the transactions that took place, there can be no doubt that at least the rings and ribs conform to the definition of commodity money. Our analysis revealed perceptible similarity in weight between rings, ribs, and a selection of axe blades from the Early Bronze Age of Central Europe. We take this to be evidence of intentional standardization that follows from lifting objects and estimating their weight by hand [25], attesting for their use as commodity money. Standardization occurred around a weight of 195.5 grams, though this is not an absolute benchmark. It is unlikely that this exact weight was aimed for. Rather, the similarity in weight is the result of a rule of thumb corresponding to the material realities of casting metal in moulds and commodification. Moreover, in the absence of balances the shape of objects was needed to express weight through a simple ‘same form same weight equation’. Employing psychophysics and the Weber fraction for weight of 0.1 we calculated that everything in the range from 176 to 217 grams would be perceived as equal in weight to 195.5 grams. Within this perceptive category we observe that ribs and axe blades form the opposite ends, with the rings at 195.5 in the middle. This argument is statistically supported by the observation that rings, ribs, and axe blades cannot be distinguished when combined in one dataset.
The co-occurrence of these objects in hoards, sometimes even tied together such as in the find from Wegliny [46] (Fig 5), points at their interchangeability. Their overlap in weight suggests that a conversion between rings and ribs, and axe blades was aimed for in specific cases. For the EBA I, one ring or rib corresponded to one axe blade, while during the EBA II, three rings or ribs were needed to make two axe blades. Since geographically axe blades were found at the outer edges of the area where rings and ribs circulated, we interpret them as local economic articulations of commodification through which the gap between commodity and prestige good economies was vaulted [10]. The choice of axe blades as commodity money seems a logical development from the observation that axes had long been valued, and are perhaps the single most important metal tool of prehistoric farmers [47].
Not all EBA rings, ribs, and axe blades were used as commodity money. What our model shows is that many conform to a standardized weight. Some were made for a different purpose which did not impose weight limitations that we can identify with this model, however. Axe blades from the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age showed no standardization (S1D Appendix, S1 Fig in S1 Appendix).
At the end of the Early Bronze Age rings and ribs disappear and trade starts to take place in both scrap metal and (parts of) casting cakes. For such a system to operate two developments need to have been completed. The practical development of a set of scales, and the cognitive development of a system of weighing through which to operate a balance. The earliest evidence of balance weights and balances in Western Europe dates to the Middle Bronze Age, and were likely used for gold given their sizes and weights [4, 48–50]. Around the same time there is a noticeable increase in the amount of bronzes being traded from the south to the north of Europe [51].
Weights are material-symbolic facts [52]. You first need to experience differences in weight and engage with these material realities before you can articulate them conceptually. Rather than seeing rings and ribs as the material representation of a conceptual system of weight, we argue that they helped to articulate such a conceptual system. The material medium—bronze—helped to move this conceptual innovation along [43, 53, 54] because it afforded an unprecedented sameness between objects [55]. Moulds were the very first blue-prints [56] through which copies could be easily produced [57, 58]. Since human cognition is a dynamic system that includes mind, body and material forms [43, 44, 59, 60], thinking through these objects helped scaffold the cognitive framework that is needed for the development of a weight unit throughout the EBA [61].
From experience, people came to expect that rings weigh about the same (around 195 grams), resulting in a cognitive stereotype [62] of these rings and their weight. A cognitive stereotype is part of our cognitive toolbox and from this weight could be divorced from the actual physical rings, and thought of separately. Thanks to the particular affordances of bronze, equality in weight became a matter of concern and, following, a cognitive tool to think with, resulting in an abstract notion of weight. This is what allowed for a theoretical unit of weight to come into existence, which was needed to operate scales. Rings, ribs, and axe blades produced in a serial fashion and having perceptible similar weight are the material roots of a cognitive system of weighing.
We suggest that producing perceptibly identical copies of rings, ribs, and axe blades, and their use as commodity money led to an increased recognition of weight similarities and the independent emergence of a system of weighing in Central Europe.