05-06-2006, 07:09 AM
For small items like coins, you'd probably use a double balance. A folding one was excavated at Regensburg, for one thing (I can send you a pic if you want).
For larger items, market-style, steelyards seem to have been more common. The suspended weights are a fairly regular occurrence in excavations. Interestingy, a wooden 'steelyard' balance has been excavated from Elisenhof, a north German village from the 7th-9th centuries AD. I wonder whether these would not have been in use among the Romans as well. THey are much easier to make than twin scales.
For larger items, market-style, steelyards seem to have been more common. The suspended weights are a fairly regular occurrence in excavations. Interestingy, a wooden 'steelyard' balance has been excavated from Elisenhof, a north German village from the 7th-9th centuries AD. I wonder whether these would not have been in use among the Romans as well. THey are much easier to make than twin scales.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
