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For example, a number (representing the amount owed or credited) was carved into a tally stick in the presence of witnesses, and the wood was then split in such a way that any subsequent alteration of the notches would have been immediately noticeable when the two pieces of the tally stick were joined. Both parties \u2013 creditor and debtor \u2013 each received half of the tally stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n
Krapfentessel aus dem Alpinen Museum der Schweiz (ALPS) in Bern. Foto thw<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u00c4hnlich auch beim Alpscheit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Auf einer Alp ist die Menge an Gras, die dort w\u00e4chst, begrenzt. Von diesem Gras kann eine begrenzte Zahl von K\u00fchen einen Sommer lang leben. Davon wiederum h\u00e4ngt der Ertrag der Alp \u2013 Milch, K\u00e4se, Butter, Fleisch \u2013 ab. F\u00fcr erfahrene Bauersleute waren das voraussehbare Mengen. Doch zuerst einmal muss jede Alpweide mit harter Arbeit nutzbar gemacht werden. Die Gemeinde erteilte allen Beteiligten entsprechend ihrem Anteil an dieser Arbeit das Recht auf eine bestimmte Zahl an K\u00fchen, die sie im Sommer auf der Alp weiden lassen durften. Diese Rechte wurden \u00f6ffentlich im Alpscheit markiert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On a wooden beam , this number of cows (cow rights) was carved along with the family's house mark. Then, small pieces of the beam \u2013 the \"Tesseln\" \u2013 were cut away so that both the Tessel and the beam bore the house mark and the number of cows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWhile the beam could be over a meter long, the tessellations were only 2-4 cm long (two inserted tessellations can be seen in the photo above right). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Alpscheit from the Museum of Cultures Basel. Photo: thw<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Alpmeister<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I was elected by the community and I keep the alpine tally safe. I am not allowed to drive my own cows up to this alpine pasture and I am vigilant and incorruptible.\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Farmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I keep our tessellations safe because our well-being depends on them. I can also sell our share or buy rights from others.\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Farmer's Wife<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I keep a close eye on what the men are doing with our shares in the alpine pasture. Our children and grandchildren should also be able to live well here.\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Das vom Alpmeister aufbewahrte Alpscheit entspricht dem \u00f6ffentlichen Schl\u00fcssel (public key<\/em>), das darin eingepasste Holzst\u00fcck einer Bauernfamilie dem privaten Schl\u00fcssel (private key<\/em>) in den modernen Kryptow\u00e4hrungen.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut back then, this system was anything but anonymous! The whole community knew about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What is the benefit to society if cryptocurrencies can be traded anonymously ?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Was haben public und private keys mit Alpscheit und Krapfentessel zu tun? Wer auf ein Guthaben in einer Kryptow\u00e4hrung wie \u20bf zugreifen will, braucht neben dem \u00f6ffentlichen Schl\u00fcssel (public key) einen zweiten, privaten Schl\u00fcssel (private key). Wer beide Schl\u00fcssel hat, kann das Guthaben nutzen. Ein private key sollte deshalb sicher aufbewahrt \u2013 getrennt vom Internet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[75,51,13],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-das-mittelalter-im-heute-de","tag-abrechnungsholz","tag-rechtshoelzer","tag-tessel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":92,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3189,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/3189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zeitkerben.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Krapfentessel-1024x341.jpeg\")