Archaeologists have found the remains of several Anglo-Saxon scales. Scale pans would have been suspended from a balance. The scale pans would have been attached to the balance by either fine chains or some form of cord using the holes which can be seen on edges of the scale pans. The pans may have been detached when not in use. |
||
  |
 |
|
Two scale pans - one found at Abingdon, Oxfordshire -(AN1993.43 & 1935.62c) and a folding balance (AN1909.467) found at Icklingham, Suffolk. Note that these scale pans have different numbers of holes for the chains for suspension from the balance. |
||
| From the balances found it appears that they usually folded making them small and easy to carry. |  |
|
(AN1993.42) |
||
The Anglo-Saxons would have used scales to check the weight of coins and other small pieces of metal that may have been used as currency. Small lead weights would have been used for this purpose. Thus these would help with trade as coins were rare. |
||
As you can see these scales are quite small so they would not have been used for large items. |
||
|
