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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Studies in Akan Goldweights (1): The Origins of the Goldweight System |
Author: | Garrard, Timothy F. |
Year: | 1972 |
Periodical: | Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | June |
Pages: | 1-20 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ghana |
Subjects: | gold weights Economics and Trade History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/41405802 |
Abstract: | This paper is concerned primarily with evidence of the origin of the Akan goldweights, and the related matters of dating. Of the four major series of weights used by the Akan, two derived from the Western Sudan about 1400, one derived from the Portuguese ounce about 1500, and one derived from the troy ounce about 1650. There is no evidence that the Akan ever had an indigenous weight standard. The 19th-century weight-lists, when correctly analysed, are found to be composed of weights from the four adopted series. Originally these series were distinct, but long usage combined them into a system. Notes. |