Aztec Math Decoded, Reveals Woes Of Ancient Tax Time

National Geographic News ^ | 4-3-2008 | Brian Handwerk

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[BGHater]

No kidding, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

[Eyes Unclouded]

Guess there were more than one ways to lose an arm and a leg back in the day ... *ducks*

[Moose4]

And they didn’t take too kindly to people appealing their assessments...

}:-)4

[rod1]

Gives a new meaning to “Tribute” bands.

[Red Badger]

So, if you didn’t paid your taxes it really could cost you and “arm and a leg”!.........................

[blam]

Same story told by Scientific American:

Aztec Math Used Hearts and Arrows

[VanShuyten]

"The primary land unit was likely the distance from the ground to the tip of a finger on an adult's upraised right arm—about 8.2 feet (2.5 meters), she said.

I didn't realize the Aztec were so tall that the average one could reach up that far.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I wonder if the early speculators were able to pyramid their gains. Ba da bump.

[Red in Blue PA]

Too funny!

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks Blam. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[Malesherbes]

This will be the basis for the Internal Revenue Code of Aztlan.

[wildbill]

So basically even in this relatively primitive society, the tax man’s fees were counted via a system that used your body parts as counters.

No doubt they’d charge something like three fingers for late filing, radical circumcision for failure to file and rip your heart out for finagling your tax return.

Things never change. The Tax Man cometh soon.

[gleeaikin]

When doing a rough measurement on the size of a room, for example when I want to buy paint or a rug, I use the finger tip to finger tip measure, which in most people is the same as one’s height. In my case roughly 5 1/2 feet. I also use the span from thumb tip to pinky tip, which is 8 inches, for small measurements, like the width and depth of a refrigerator or washing machine. This is really handy when you are at a yard sale without a tape measure.

[Fred Nerks]

Distance

In all traditional measuring systems, short distance units are based on the dimensions of the human body. The inch represents the width of a thumb; in fact, in many languages, the word for “inch” is also the word for “thumb.” The foot (12 inches) was originally the length of a human foot, although it has evolved to be longer than most people’s feet. The yard (3 feet) seems to have gotten its start in England as the name of a 3-foot measuring stick, but it is also understood to be the distance from the tip of the nose to the end of the middle finger of the outstretched hand. Finally, if you stretch your arms out to the sides as far as possible, your total “arm span,” from one fingertip to the other, is a fathom (6 feet).

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/custom.html

[Ciexyz]

No escape, apparently, from "rendering to Montezuma".