Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (4.1980/1983)

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REVIEWS

harvesting potatoes and cultivating between
maize. They had blades of wood, stone, bone,
copper, bronze and latterly iron.
Dating of the terraces by archaeological investi-
gation, local nomenclature and enquiry, written
descriptions and field or aerial observation shows
a span in time from c. 500 B.C. to c. 1500 A.D., a
period of around 2000 years. Central Mexico and
the Central Andes provides the earliest evidence.
They are, therefore, far earlier than the presum-
ably early medieval terraces of Britain. They go
up to an altitude of about 4700 metres in the
Andes, and are consistently found in dry areas.
An interesting point is that the hills were rela-
tively free of frost, which built up in the valleys
following temperature inversion at night. Maize,
therefore, which is vulnerable to frost, was safest,
at a height, where air-drainage was good. It is
doubtful, of course, if this invisible factor was
significant for the relatively low-lying terraces of
Britain.
Three main terrace types can be distinguished:
cross-channel terracing, i.e. fields supported by
walls across an embayment or narrow valley,
with water draining into the fill from surrounding
slopes; lateral or contour terracing, with walls
supporting leval terraces that may be irrigated
(wall heights, up to 9 metres, vary according to
the degree of slope and the width of the bench);
valley-floor terracing, set at right angles to the
direction of drainage (the rarest type). Walls can
be of very high quality, even on a cyclopean scale,
and Inca terracing even “appears to overstep the
bounds of mere utility and to take on symbolic
significance”. The fill of the benches may be
worked down from adjacent slopes, or put in
patiently by hand in such a way as to control the
water balance. The amount of the terracing
underlines the gigantic scale of the labour in-
volved, even if spread over a long period of time,
in order to get crops of maize, coca, tubers and
grain. Irrigation canals were often also required
to serve the terraces.
The regional survey of the available evidence
brings into play a mass of detail about the tech-
niques of terrace building, the knowledge of soil-
types amongst the native peoples, details of irri-
gation methods and of field divisions, the re-

lationship of terraces or benches to settlement
sites, cultivation techniques, and dates of origin
in different places. Though the New World is far
away, nevertheless the information provided ab-
out the dynamics and functioning of terraces is of
great comparative value, which can be profitably
applied to studies of Old World terracing. The
large number of excellent photographs and dia-
grams add visual impact to the mental astonish-
ment that the text often produces - but what right
have we to assume superiority over other civilisa-
tions, even if they have passed away?
A. Fenton.
L. H. FEOKTISTOWA: Zemledelije u Es-
tonzew XVIII - natschalo XX.w. Sistemii i
Technika
(Ackerbau bei den Esten. Vom i8.-Anfang 20.
Jh. System und Technik). Verlag Nauka.
Moskau 1980. 192 S., 57 Abb. und Karten.
An der ethnographischen Aufarbeitung des est-
nischen Ackerbaues haben hervorragende For-
scher teilgenommen und im Laufe der For-
schungsarbeiten hat sich in den Museen und Ar-
chiven ein grosses Material angehauft. Das hat
dazu beigetragen, das L. H. Feoktistowa - nach-
dem sie von System und Technik des estnischen
Ackerbaues eine ganze Reihe von Abhandlungen
geschrieben hat - es unternehmen konnte, von
dieser Frage ein nicht sehr grosses, aber griind-
liches und niitzliches Buch zu publizieren.
Sie teilt den estnischen Ackerbau auf drei Epo-
chen. Die erste umfasst das 18. und den Anfang
des 19. Jhs, die zweite breitet sich bis Mitte des
19. Jhs und die dritte endet mit 1917 - weist aber
stellenweise auch auf die Zeit zwischen den bei-
den Weltkriegen hin. Wir konnen also den Wan-
del und die Entwicklung des estnischen Acker-
baues zwei Jahrhunderte lang verfolgen.
Feoktistowa stiitzt sich erstens auf ihr eigenes,
mit ethnographischen Methoden am Terrain ge-
sammeltes Material, wendet aber den reichen
Schatz der estnischen Museen und Archiven auch
an. Sie stiitzt sich auf die Ergebnisse der Agrar-
geschichte ebenso, wie sie auch die Gelandegege-
benheiten, die angebauten Spezies und oesorten in
Betracht zieht. Sie teilt die Arbeitsgerate in Grup-