Balance

Item number Sf698 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Smoothly finished, slightly curved, rectangular bone balance with a design of punctuated circles on both of the wide, flat sides. One side has four groups of four circles arranged in a diamond shape. The other side has two groups of three circles on either side of four diamond shaped groups of four circles. Each of the short, skinny ends has a hole drilled. One hole is drilled through the skinny width of the bar in the very centre. The two other holes are symmetrically placed at the ends and run obliquely from one narrow edge to the adjacent narrow edge.

History Of Use

The balance bar from a scale. Ancient scales had several forms. A complete example from the Chinca Valley has two shallow copper pans attached by cords to the ends of the balance. Another type has rectangular nets suspended from the balance bar by their corners. The scale with nets may have been for weighing feathers.