At the University of Helsinki, three researchers from the fields of cognitive science, cultural studies, and anthropology have investigated the development and application of human body-based measurement systems in a variety of cultures. Roope Kaaronen, Mikael Manninen, and Jussi Eronen describe in their paper that was published in the journal Science how they used data from the Human Relations Area Files database to analyze body-based measurement systems across cultures and what they discovered.
In the same issue of Perspective, Wayne State University’s Stephen Chrisomalis describes the team’s work in Finland in a piece.
Units of measurement have been closely associated with physical body parts for the majority of human history. Individuals utilized the separation from the elbow to the furthest limit of the fingertips, for instance, to make the possibility of a cubit. Alternately, they gave the distance between outstretched hands, which they called a fathom, the measurement of rope or cloth lengths.
In a similar vein, the distance that separates the tips of the thumb and little fingers was referred to as a span. The research team found in this new project that many people still use body-based measurements despite the introduction of modern measurement tools like the meter, yardstick, and ruler. They also considered the possibility that cultural differences might be to blame for variations in the extent to which such measurements are utilized.
The team started searching the Human Relations Area Files database, which was first created in the 1950s, to learn more about measurement systems from a cultural and historical perspective. As a means of providing a centralized location for ethnographic and anthropological data that can be utilized in ongoing research efforts, researchers have been entering it into the database. The team looked at data from 186 different cultures, both ancient and modern.
In taking a gander at their information, the specialists found that body-based estimations are utilized by all societies; however, they are considered more normal in certain areas of interest than others. Many societies use them to depict aspects of garments, for instance. Others use them for bespoke projects like figuring out the length of skis or building kayaks.
The team then concentrated on a subset of 99 cultures that had been found to have developed independently of one another. They discovered that the most common body measurements, cubits, spans, and fathoms, were also the most well-known.
The group suggests, as a means of personalizing projects that involve ergonomic design, that body-based measurements are still used most frequently today.
More information: Roope O. Kaaronen et al, Body-based units of measure in cultural evolution, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adf1936
Stephen Chrisomalis, Embodying measurement, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi2352
