Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (3.1976/1979)

DOUBLE PADDLE SPADES

113

tions, whereas c. 589.0. were found in bogs
and jop.c. turned up during ploughing,
ditch-digging, etc. The finding intensity was
high when digging for fuel like peat was car-
ried out on a big scale during the two world
wars. When double paddle-spades were found
in bogs, there was often more than one or a
double paddle-spade was found together with
pottery and other wooden objects. In particu-
lar, a spade shaped like a short, broad sword
with two sharp edges, presumably intended
for peat-digging, was often found in the same
bog. One double paddle-spade was found
alongside a dug-out canoe.3 When studying
the records, it is frequently stated that the
double paddle-spade (or the double-oar, as it
is always called) was found lying horizontally
at the bottom of the bog, less than 1 m above
the bottom, “on the sand layer”, or lying
between 1.30 and 1.80 m below the surface.
Except for three double paddle-spades (A
20185, A- 2-oi86, A 20187) found together in
Kvolsted bog at Hjarbask fiord in 1902 (fig. 2),
and one (A 16529) found in 1897 in Gassum
bog between Randers and Hobro, the hori-
zontal position dominated, but these four
were found in a sloping or nearly vertical posi-
tion.
Geographical distribution
On figure 1 is seen the geographical distribu-
tion of the finding places of all spades that
could be located. Their distribution is surpris-
ingly concentrated. The Danish double
paddle-spades are found exclusively in Jut-
land especially in a stretch from Himmerland
south of the Lim-Fiord and westwards, pas-
sing Viborg, Skive and along the westcoast to
the southern point of Ringkobing fiord
(Nymindegab) with some few finds scattered
north of the Lim-Fiord and in East Jutland.
No finds were located south of the line
Horsens-Nymindegab.
Double paddle-spades are kept in the

Danish National Museum in Copenhagen as
well as in the local museums or in private
collections.4 Only one prehistoric double
paddle-spade is known to have been found
outside Denmark. It was revealed in 1926 by
peat-digging in Oja parish near Gemla in
Smaland, Sweden, and is now kept in Vaxjd
museum (mus. no. 3672). It was rather
pointed at both ends, but its finding condi-
tions were similar to many of the Danish
finds, i.e. it was placed horizontally at the
bottom of the bog. It was made of oak and it is
said to date from the Early Iron Age
(Kjellmark 365).5
Even if more bogs profitable for peat-
digging in this century existed in Jutland than
in the rest of Denmark and even if there were
perhaps more interested and energetic
amateur-archaeologists and private collectors
in the districts concerned, the area with a high
finding intensity is still surprisingly limited.
Some museums outside this area keep a few
double paddle-spades in their collections, but
according to the records they were all found in
bogs in Jutland, e.g. two double paddle-
spades in the Langelands Museum came from
bogs near Viborg, the same was true of the
items in Ribe Museum, and one specimen in a
museum in Funen was found in a Jutland lake.
Datings
All double paddle-spades are thought to be
prehistoric. Two items were dated by the
radiocarbon method to the Celtic Iron Age:
the double paddle-spade mus. no. G 747 in
Ringkobing museum found in Rybjerg bog,
Veiling parish, Ringkobing county, to 330 ±
100 B.C., and the double paddle-spade from
Ringkobing museum found in Holmegard
bog, bonder Lem parish, Ringkobing county,
to 220 ± 100 B.C. (Radiocarbon 308, 309).
More specimens will be dated in order to test
whether there are double paddle-spades from
other periods.