DOI Artikel:
Editorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48999#0071
EDITORIAL
With every year that passes, more fresh know-
ledge from different places and periods is
brought together and published, in this journal
and elsewhere, and new patterns of historical
awareness are then created by scholars with the
inward seeing eye. - In this number, the contri-
butions range widely over time and space.
When looked at together, they coalesce in an
interesting way. Current ways of using spades
and shovels in Korea and New Guinea have
been acutely observed and recorded. Prehistoric
European spades and shovels have been re-
examined with some of this background of ob-
servation in mind, leading to fresh interpreta-
tions that appear convincing and throw new
light on the economies and ways of life of the
people who used them. Experiment has been
used to check and support these conclusions,
itself controlled as far as possible by the ex-
perience gained from previous observation of
surviving techniques. It is surely a function of
ethnological studies to integrate and control in
such ways, so that even though not all factors
can be reproduced in experiment, nevertheless
a substantial base is being prepared for future
expansion. Nor should it ever be forgotten that
personal practical knowledge and experience,
giving an instinct for balance and methods of
holding tools and putting them to use, is also a
basis for scholarship in such fields.
Further techniques of study are exemplified
by V. Marinov’s formal classification of types
of iron plough-parts in Bulgaria, and by A. T.
Lucas’s penetrating analyses of early documen-
tary sources.
Though this number is mainly concerned with
spades and plough parts, future issues will also
deal with questions relating to the harvesting of
crops. The Editors invite contributions on this
topic. It is also planned that aspects of the basic
methods of processing cereal crops will be
touched on from time to time.
In their efforts to bring into play data from
different regions, the Editors had been looking
to the late Professor Jorge Dias for a substantial
contribution from the Iberian peninsula. They
will still hope for material from his colleagues
in the Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Cul-
tural in Lisboa, but Jorge Dias had a master’s
touch in handling ethnological material that few
scholars ever attain. He could observe and re-
cord precisely, and could analyse and - equally
important - synthesise with insight. His death
on the 5th February 1973 is a serious loss to
the world of ethnology, and also to the Inter-
national Secretariat for Research on the History
of Agricultural Implements, for Professor Dias
was a member of the Permanently Standing
Committee that helps to guide its policy and
progress. Another serious loss is Dr. Paul
Scheuermeier who died in Bern on 13 August
1973. His pioneering work in the 1930s, carried
out on foot or on bicycle, led to the important
publication, Bauernwerk in Italien der italieni-
schen und rat or omanis chen Schweiz, part of
Jaberg and Jud’s Sprach- and Sachatlas It aliens
und der Sildschweiz. It is hard to replace such
men.
With every year that passes, more fresh know-
ledge from different places and periods is
brought together and published, in this journal
and elsewhere, and new patterns of historical
awareness are then created by scholars with the
inward seeing eye. - In this number, the contri-
butions range widely over time and space.
When looked at together, they coalesce in an
interesting way. Current ways of using spades
and shovels in Korea and New Guinea have
been acutely observed and recorded. Prehistoric
European spades and shovels have been re-
examined with some of this background of ob-
servation in mind, leading to fresh interpreta-
tions that appear convincing and throw new
light on the economies and ways of life of the
people who used them. Experiment has been
used to check and support these conclusions,
itself controlled as far as possible by the ex-
perience gained from previous observation of
surviving techniques. It is surely a function of
ethnological studies to integrate and control in
such ways, so that even though not all factors
can be reproduced in experiment, nevertheless
a substantial base is being prepared for future
expansion. Nor should it ever be forgotten that
personal practical knowledge and experience,
giving an instinct for balance and methods of
holding tools and putting them to use, is also a
basis for scholarship in such fields.
Further techniques of study are exemplified
by V. Marinov’s formal classification of types
of iron plough-parts in Bulgaria, and by A. T.
Lucas’s penetrating analyses of early documen-
tary sources.
Though this number is mainly concerned with
spades and plough parts, future issues will also
deal with questions relating to the harvesting of
crops. The Editors invite contributions on this
topic. It is also planned that aspects of the basic
methods of processing cereal crops will be
touched on from time to time.
In their efforts to bring into play data from
different regions, the Editors had been looking
to the late Professor Jorge Dias for a substantial
contribution from the Iberian peninsula. They
will still hope for material from his colleagues
in the Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Cul-
tural in Lisboa, but Jorge Dias had a master’s
touch in handling ethnological material that few
scholars ever attain. He could observe and re-
cord precisely, and could analyse and - equally
important - synthesise with insight. His death
on the 5th February 1973 is a serious loss to
the world of ethnology, and also to the Inter-
national Secretariat for Research on the History
of Agricultural Implements, for Professor Dias
was a member of the Permanently Standing
Committee that helps to guide its policy and
progress. Another serious loss is Dr. Paul
Scheuermeier who died in Bern on 13 August
1973. His pioneering work in the 1930s, carried
out on foot or on bicycle, led to the important
publication, Bauernwerk in Italien der italieni-
schen und rat or omanis chen Schweiz, part of
Jaberg and Jud’s Sprach- and Sachatlas It aliens
und der Sildschweiz. It is hard to replace such
men.