DOI chapter:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI chapter:Kirleis, Wibke: Subsistence change? Diversification of plant economy during the Neolithic in northern Germany
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0445
444
Subsistence change? Diversification of plant economy during the Neolithic in northern Germany
BCE
Ratio free-treshing barley/emmer-spelt
Ratio emmer-spelt/free-treshing barley
-Ratio perennial/annual weeds
Ratio annual/perennial weeds
Fig. 6 Diachronic perspective on cultivation strategies in northern Germany, 4,000-1,700 caIBCE (after Brozio et al. 2019a, fig. 4).
extensive cultivation strategies. This is in contrast
to a definition relating to palaeo-ecological reconst-
ructions that often refers to consolidated agriculture
- as proven by large-scale woodland opening - as
‘intensified’ agriculture. This nomenclature is mis-
leading and should be avoided, since the large-scale
woodland opening - seen from the work force per-
spective - goes along with the application of exten-
sive cultivation strategies on expanded arable fields.
Intensive cultivation is characterised by high
labour input per area, the yield per area is high, but
the yield per person is low. This cultivation strategy
applies for small-scale cultivation on garden-like
plots. In contrast, extensive cultivation builds upon
low labour input per unit of arable land, low yields
per area, but accounts for high yields per person.
Extensive cultivation strategies are practised on large
arable fields as well as in shifting cultivation.
Specific tools and technologies are used for
either strategy. Intensive crop growing is carried
out with the digging stick and the hoe, often as a
collective activity (Kirleis 2019b). In the archaeo-
logical record, both tools are rarely encountered.
Traces indicating the possible use of a digging stick
were unearthed only in a Swifterbant context in the
Netherlands, dating to the second half of the 5th mil-
lennium caIBCE (Huisman / Raemaekers 2014).
Extensive crop cultivation is mainly carried out
with the ard, a simple plough that scratches the
soil before seeding, invented in the 4th millennium
caIBCE. Earliest ard marks on Fyn, Denmark, date
to about 3,700 caIBCE; they are commonly preserved
below megalithic tombs that were erected between
Subsistence change? Diversification of plant economy during the Neolithic in northern Germany
BCE
Ratio free-treshing barley/emmer-spelt
Ratio emmer-spelt/free-treshing barley
-Ratio perennial/annual weeds
Ratio annual/perennial weeds
Fig. 6 Diachronic perspective on cultivation strategies in northern Germany, 4,000-1,700 caIBCE (after Brozio et al. 2019a, fig. 4).
extensive cultivation strategies. This is in contrast
to a definition relating to palaeo-ecological reconst-
ructions that often refers to consolidated agriculture
- as proven by large-scale woodland opening - as
‘intensified’ agriculture. This nomenclature is mis-
leading and should be avoided, since the large-scale
woodland opening - seen from the work force per-
spective - goes along with the application of exten-
sive cultivation strategies on expanded arable fields.
Intensive cultivation is characterised by high
labour input per area, the yield per area is high, but
the yield per person is low. This cultivation strategy
applies for small-scale cultivation on garden-like
plots. In contrast, extensive cultivation builds upon
low labour input per unit of arable land, low yields
per area, but accounts for high yields per person.
Extensive cultivation strategies are practised on large
arable fields as well as in shifting cultivation.
Specific tools and technologies are used for
either strategy. Intensive crop growing is carried
out with the digging stick and the hoe, often as a
collective activity (Kirleis 2019b). In the archaeo-
logical record, both tools are rarely encountered.
Traces indicating the possible use of a digging stick
were unearthed only in a Swifterbant context in the
Netherlands, dating to the second half of the 5th mil-
lennium caIBCE (Huisman / Raemaekers 2014).
Extensive crop cultivation is mainly carried out
with the ard, a simple plough that scratches the
soil before seeding, invented in the 4th millennium
caIBCE. Earliest ard marks on Fyn, Denmark, date
to about 3,700 caIBCE; they are commonly preserved
below megalithic tombs that were erected between