DOI Artikel:
Lerche, Grith: Ridged fields and profiles of plough-furrows: ploughing practices in medieval and post-medieval times, a study in experimental archaeology, 1
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49002#0143
RIDGED FIELDS AND PROFILES OF PLOUGH-FURROWS
133
subsoil (if the humus layer was thin) in cor-
respondence with the surface of the ridges
and furrows, a phenomenon which some-
times astonished scholars not familiar with
the tilling process with a mouldboard
plough.
Although these profiles were a necessary
means of understanding how ridges and fur-
rows had been planned and constructed, the
furrow-slices themselves could not be distin-
guished in the top soil, and no furrow-like
depressions, such as the ard-traces men-
tioned above were discernible in the subsoil
or the intermediate layer. How could we
then comprehend the process of reforming
and restructuring the tilled soil? How could
we distinguish between the working proces-
ses of a wheel- plough and an ard? The solu-
tion seemed to lie in imitative experimenta-
tion.
Fortunately, Denmark has a better base
for experimenting in this way than any other
country, because a great number of import-
ant parts of medieval wooden wheel-
ploughs, found in bogs and swamps, is now
preserved in Danish Museums (Glob 1951,
Lerche 1970). Most are much damaged and
worn. They raise many questions: how
should the marks of wear be interpreted?
Had they been used in flat or ridged fields or
both? Was it possible to reconstruct a reli-
able implement which could serve in a test of
long duration? Could wear marks be pro-
duced on a replica similar to those observed
on the fossil fragments? Could we solve the
problems of restructuring the top layer so
that it would be possible to recognize the
faint traces produced by its working parts in
abandoned fields from the Middle Ages and
later?
These were the reasons why I started my
research through experiments in 1978. The
reconstruction of a workable wheel-plough
and the carrying out of the experiment over
the years since then would not have been
possible without substantial support from
the Carlsberg Foundation and the trained
staff of the Historical-Archaeological Re-
search Centre in Lejre as well as through
access free of charge to traction-power by
horses from the Carlsberg Breweries. For
these benefits I owe to all of them my sincere
thanks. The author alone however, was re-
sponsible for the planning and execution of
the experiments.
Experiments require a well defined goal,
and their results should be related to a re-
stricted frame of reference. It is unnecessary
to state that uncertain factors should be cut
out as far as possible, in order to deduce as
exactly as possible what caused the changes
and determined the results, bearing in mind
that experiments in archaeology can never be
controlled as precisely as experiments in the
natural sciences. In the humanities we can-
not exclude the effects of manipulating man;
on the contrary we have to calculate with
man as a factor of uncertainty.
This is all the more reason why our exper-
iments should as far as possible be carried
out under full control, i.e. the elements in-
volved should be measured, weighed,
photographed, registered and commented
on with drawings and notes, etc. The exper-
iment ought to supplement data derived
from excavated or written sources, reflecting
working processes which cannot be deduced
from such sources. In particular the wear
marks produced on the working parts
should be compared with traces of wear on
fragments of fossil ploughs.
To resume the purpose of the ploughing
experiments executed during the years 1978-
83, 1) I reconstructed a workable medieval
wheel-plough, and 2) ploughed c. 300 km
with it in the same field and controlled how
fast and in what fashion its working parts
became abraded. Reports on these results
133
subsoil (if the humus layer was thin) in cor-
respondence with the surface of the ridges
and furrows, a phenomenon which some-
times astonished scholars not familiar with
the tilling process with a mouldboard
plough.
Although these profiles were a necessary
means of understanding how ridges and fur-
rows had been planned and constructed, the
furrow-slices themselves could not be distin-
guished in the top soil, and no furrow-like
depressions, such as the ard-traces men-
tioned above were discernible in the subsoil
or the intermediate layer. How could we
then comprehend the process of reforming
and restructuring the tilled soil? How could
we distinguish between the working proces-
ses of a wheel- plough and an ard? The solu-
tion seemed to lie in imitative experimenta-
tion.
Fortunately, Denmark has a better base
for experimenting in this way than any other
country, because a great number of import-
ant parts of medieval wooden wheel-
ploughs, found in bogs and swamps, is now
preserved in Danish Museums (Glob 1951,
Lerche 1970). Most are much damaged and
worn. They raise many questions: how
should the marks of wear be interpreted?
Had they been used in flat or ridged fields or
both? Was it possible to reconstruct a reli-
able implement which could serve in a test of
long duration? Could wear marks be pro-
duced on a replica similar to those observed
on the fossil fragments? Could we solve the
problems of restructuring the top layer so
that it would be possible to recognize the
faint traces produced by its working parts in
abandoned fields from the Middle Ages and
later?
These were the reasons why I started my
research through experiments in 1978. The
reconstruction of a workable wheel-plough
and the carrying out of the experiment over
the years since then would not have been
possible without substantial support from
the Carlsberg Foundation and the trained
staff of the Historical-Archaeological Re-
search Centre in Lejre as well as through
access free of charge to traction-power by
horses from the Carlsberg Breweries. For
these benefits I owe to all of them my sincere
thanks. The author alone however, was re-
sponsible for the planning and execution of
the experiments.
Experiments require a well defined goal,
and their results should be related to a re-
stricted frame of reference. It is unnecessary
to state that uncertain factors should be cut
out as far as possible, in order to deduce as
exactly as possible what caused the changes
and determined the results, bearing in mind
that experiments in archaeology can never be
controlled as precisely as experiments in the
natural sciences. In the humanities we can-
not exclude the effects of manipulating man;
on the contrary we have to calculate with
man as a factor of uncertainty.
This is all the more reason why our exper-
iments should as far as possible be carried
out under full control, i.e. the elements in-
volved should be measured, weighed,
photographed, registered and commented
on with drawings and notes, etc. The exper-
iment ought to supplement data derived
from excavated or written sources, reflecting
working processes which cannot be deduced
from such sources. In particular the wear
marks produced on the working parts
should be compared with traces of wear on
fragments of fossil ploughs.
To resume the purpose of the ploughing
experiments executed during the years 1978-
83, 1) I reconstructed a workable medieval
wheel-plough, and 2) ploughed c. 300 km
with it in the same field and controlled how
fast and in what fashion its working parts
became abraded. Reports on these results