Question

What types of weight and measures did the Indus people use?

Answer 1

People of Indus valley used several types of weights and measuring instruments both for commercial and building purpose. Several items for measuring weights have been discovered. They usually proceeded in a series, doubling from 1 i.e. like 1,2,4,8,16…64. They also had decimal multiples of 16. (Decimal in the sense that a unit is made up of 16 parts. Remember zero ‘0’ has not yet come into practice.)

Excavation works have found several measuring sticks. It is beleived that Harapan were the authors of linear system of measurement. A unit was measured as 'angula' (this has been described in Arthasastra also) which was still used in India until recently.

Answer 2

Answer:

Explanation:

The harappan people used sets of cubical stone weights. Thebasic unit was 16grams. The larger weights were multiples of 16like 32, 48, 64, 128and so on. The smaller ones were all fractions of 16