2026. Late Babylonian field plans: area computation in practice (preprint) Mathieu Ossendrijver

https://www.academia.edu/179027861/2026_Late_Babylonian_field_plans_area_computation_in_practice_preprint_?email_work_card=title This paper presents a reconstruction of the operational steps underlying the computation of the areas expressed in seed metrology that are reported in Late Babylonian field plans. The reconstruction is verified for the field plan BM 46719, which preserves a scratch calculation on its reverse. Each step was or could be achieved by consulting metrological and arithmetical tables, which strongly reduces the need for computation.