DOI Artikel:
Editorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49001#0137
EDITORIAL
When times are hard, it is necessary to draw
in one’s horns - a saying that appears to
liken people to snails. But people are not
snails as far as Tools and Tillage is con-
cerned, for we find no shortage of contribu-
tions of high-quality material. We wish the
journal could be bigger, to get more of it out
more quickly. But times are hard. Even so,
we have had an increase in subscriptions,
and though it is only a modest 4 per cent,
this gives us comfort in such times of
economic stringency.
In this issue we range boldly over the
world. Two articles complement each other
for comparable areas, though relating to
widely different periods. Ellison’s study of
early agriculture in Mesopotamia, now Iraq,
uses the evidence of archaeology and of
cuneiform texts, cylinder seals, and the like
to examine types of prehistoric crops, and
the tools and techniques of cultivation in
semi-arid areas. A heavy reliance on barley
rather than wheat is shown to be due to its
shorter growing season, greater tolerance of
heat and greater yield in semi-arid condi-
tions. The writer also looks at problems of
soil salinity, and of irrigation.
Further to the south, similar conditions
create similar problems. Varisco has ex-
amined the ard of the Highland Yemen in
relation to its environment and the effect of
that on the nature of the draught animals.
He also looks at hand tools. He provides
information on the terminology, which in
his case can be firmly related to the object.
With Ellison’s cuneiform inscriptions,
names of cereals and the like cannot be so
related with the same degree of certainty and
some interpretation is therefore necessary.
To this extent evidence from direct field
research scores over that from earlier
sources.
From even further afield comes linuma’s
article on ploughs in Japan. This is his sec-
ond contribution to Tools and Tillage, and
we welcome his thought-provoking analysis
of the introduction of ploughs from Korea
and China around the beginning of our era,
and of their subsequent development, which
he relates closely to dry and humid condi-
tions. In his view, the shallow ploughing
needed for dry zones and the deep ploughing
for humid zones provide the bases for the
two families of plough types in the world.
Early agriculture is given further promi-
nence in Grith Lerche’s examination of a
Viking age harrow from Viborg in Den-
mark, and Professor Takacs looks at a curi-
ous form of cultivation which may also be
old. Opportunism is perhaps an underrated
factor in the development of food-getting
processes. Observation of the action of the
powerful snouts of pigs in turning over the
ground has led to advantage being taken of
this in certain swampy areas in Central
Europe.
Marshall’s article on the Rotherham
Plough is based on documentary sources.
This plough-type had considerable import-
ance for the development of horse-drawn
swing ploughs in Denmark and in other
parts of Europe. In some areas, the resultant
types were not displaced till the tractor era.
As with all creations, it is important to ex-
amine its background and origins, as well as
its subsequent effects, and Marshall here
provides valuable new data for this purpose.
When times are hard, it is necessary to draw
in one’s horns - a saying that appears to
liken people to snails. But people are not
snails as far as Tools and Tillage is con-
cerned, for we find no shortage of contribu-
tions of high-quality material. We wish the
journal could be bigger, to get more of it out
more quickly. But times are hard. Even so,
we have had an increase in subscriptions,
and though it is only a modest 4 per cent,
this gives us comfort in such times of
economic stringency.
In this issue we range boldly over the
world. Two articles complement each other
for comparable areas, though relating to
widely different periods. Ellison’s study of
early agriculture in Mesopotamia, now Iraq,
uses the evidence of archaeology and of
cuneiform texts, cylinder seals, and the like
to examine types of prehistoric crops, and
the tools and techniques of cultivation in
semi-arid areas. A heavy reliance on barley
rather than wheat is shown to be due to its
shorter growing season, greater tolerance of
heat and greater yield in semi-arid condi-
tions. The writer also looks at problems of
soil salinity, and of irrigation.
Further to the south, similar conditions
create similar problems. Varisco has ex-
amined the ard of the Highland Yemen in
relation to its environment and the effect of
that on the nature of the draught animals.
He also looks at hand tools. He provides
information on the terminology, which in
his case can be firmly related to the object.
With Ellison’s cuneiform inscriptions,
names of cereals and the like cannot be so
related with the same degree of certainty and
some interpretation is therefore necessary.
To this extent evidence from direct field
research scores over that from earlier
sources.
From even further afield comes linuma’s
article on ploughs in Japan. This is his sec-
ond contribution to Tools and Tillage, and
we welcome his thought-provoking analysis
of the introduction of ploughs from Korea
and China around the beginning of our era,
and of their subsequent development, which
he relates closely to dry and humid condi-
tions. In his view, the shallow ploughing
needed for dry zones and the deep ploughing
for humid zones provide the bases for the
two families of plough types in the world.
Early agriculture is given further promi-
nence in Grith Lerche’s examination of a
Viking age harrow from Viborg in Den-
mark, and Professor Takacs looks at a curi-
ous form of cultivation which may also be
old. Opportunism is perhaps an underrated
factor in the development of food-getting
processes. Observation of the action of the
powerful snouts of pigs in turning over the
ground has led to advantage being taken of
this in certain swampy areas in Central
Europe.
Marshall’s article on the Rotherham
Plough is based on documentary sources.
This plough-type had considerable import-
ance for the development of horse-drawn
swing ploughs in Denmark and in other
parts of Europe. In some areas, the resultant
types were not displaced till the tractor era.
As with all creations, it is important to ex-
amine its background and origins, as well as
its subsequent effects, and Marshall here
provides valuable new data for this purpose.