DOI Artikel:
Editorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49000#0071
EDITORIAL
In the course of the year it has been impressed
time and again upon the editors that in what-
ever field of study, the best perspectives come
from a broad approach allied to examination
in depth of the subject in hand. This is the
spirit that TOOLS AND TILLAGE seeks to
maintain.
The present issue contains articles relating
to places as far away as Australia and New
Guinea yet this is completely relevant to
Europe for it was in Australia that conditions
existed for the early development of the
combine-harvester which has since had a pre-
dominating influence on harvesting. Similarly
the interpretation of the true use of the prehis-
toric Danish double paddle-spades was due to
observation of similar spades in New Guinea,
some also prehistoric, others in recent use.
Marecek’s article on shifting cultivation in
New Guinea can also give suggestions for the
way a cultivated landscape could evolve in
Europe.
New knowledge and awareness often
comes from trying out different approaches.
Steensberg’s closely detailed linguistic study
of the Sula, is not only an exercise in interpret-
ation but also in contextualisation, for the
range of related senses gives a feeling of a
whole cultural milieu within which particular
developments in plough shape could probably
take place. Thompson reminds us that Austra-
lia should not stand too much in the shadow of
the United States. He uses a primarily
documentary approach, speaking as an
economic historian, as does Perkins in the
second and concluding part of his study from
England. The other contributions demon-
strate the results of detailed, ground-level ob-
servation of physical or material remains, in
the light of historical documentation or com-
parative studies. All of these approaches give
perspective, which is a matter of first import-
ance in scholarship.
An example is the work of Dr. Ivan Balassa
of the Hungarian Agricultural Museum. In
bringing together detailed material for the
whole of Hungary and the countries around,
he has provided a new milestone in the history
of plough studies in Europe. On 5th of Oc-
tober he reached the doth milestone in his own
life.
TOOLS AND TILLAGE appears once a
year and because of pressure on space, the
section of short notes on matters of current
interest often has to be curtailed or excluded.
Accordingly we shall avoid duplicating in-
formation that can be got elsewhere. For ex-
ample, though we include articles on the basic
aspects of food processing, a more appro-
priate place for short notes is FOOD facts and
findings. Newsletter of the international
committee for the anthropology of food and
food habits. Address: ICAFFH c/o Wilson
Museum, Castine, Maine o 4421, U.S.A.
We draw your attention to this source and
invite our readers to make use of it.
In the course of the year it has been impressed
time and again upon the editors that in what-
ever field of study, the best perspectives come
from a broad approach allied to examination
in depth of the subject in hand. This is the
spirit that TOOLS AND TILLAGE seeks to
maintain.
The present issue contains articles relating
to places as far away as Australia and New
Guinea yet this is completely relevant to
Europe for it was in Australia that conditions
existed for the early development of the
combine-harvester which has since had a pre-
dominating influence on harvesting. Similarly
the interpretation of the true use of the prehis-
toric Danish double paddle-spades was due to
observation of similar spades in New Guinea,
some also prehistoric, others in recent use.
Marecek’s article on shifting cultivation in
New Guinea can also give suggestions for the
way a cultivated landscape could evolve in
Europe.
New knowledge and awareness often
comes from trying out different approaches.
Steensberg’s closely detailed linguistic study
of the Sula, is not only an exercise in interpret-
ation but also in contextualisation, for the
range of related senses gives a feeling of a
whole cultural milieu within which particular
developments in plough shape could probably
take place. Thompson reminds us that Austra-
lia should not stand too much in the shadow of
the United States. He uses a primarily
documentary approach, speaking as an
economic historian, as does Perkins in the
second and concluding part of his study from
England. The other contributions demon-
strate the results of detailed, ground-level ob-
servation of physical or material remains, in
the light of historical documentation or com-
parative studies. All of these approaches give
perspective, which is a matter of first import-
ance in scholarship.
An example is the work of Dr. Ivan Balassa
of the Hungarian Agricultural Museum. In
bringing together detailed material for the
whole of Hungary and the countries around,
he has provided a new milestone in the history
of plough studies in Europe. On 5th of Oc-
tober he reached the doth milestone in his own
life.
TOOLS AND TILLAGE appears once a
year and because of pressure on space, the
section of short notes on matters of current
interest often has to be curtailed or excluded.
Accordingly we shall avoid duplicating in-
formation that can be got elsewhere. For ex-
ample, though we include articles on the basic
aspects of food processing, a more appro-
priate place for short notes is FOOD facts and
findings. Newsletter of the international
committee for the anthropology of food and
food habits. Address: ICAFFH c/o Wilson
Museum, Castine, Maine o 4421, U.S.A.
We draw your attention to this source and
invite our readers to make use of it.