Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (6.1988/1991)

EDITORIAL

We open the sixth volume of Tools and Till-
age with only three articles, but they are sub-
stantial ones. As always, they demonstrate
the wide international viewpoint of the Jour-
nal.
The longest of all, from the pen of Francois
Sigaut, takes the very basic subject of grain-
storage techniques. Over the years he has
played a leading role in assembling informa-
tion on the subject, and in organising meet-
ings which have been followed by publication
of data. The most recent of these meetings
took place in Ravello, Italy, in May 1988, un-
der the auspices of the European University
Centre for the Cultural Heritage (also at-
tended by one of the Editors, A. F.); the dis-
cussions were on ’the Alimentary Preparation
of Cereals’, covering the subject, as it were,
from the field to the stomach. Sigaut’s philo-
sophical views, therefore, are based on wide
knowledge. He is looking for patterns. In ef-
fect, aspects of grain storage can provide a
kind of index to periods of European agricul-
tural history. But there is a fundamental
problem, 'one that applies to other kinds of
subject matter as well. Until levels of study
and publication of data have been equalised
to a greater extent in the different parts of
Europe, broad general theories based on
well-researched comparative data will remain
less easy to work out with full confidence.
Sigaut’s contribution provides a stimulus to
equalising levels of research.
Peter Stromgaard’s article widens our
knowledge of agriculture in an area we have
not much focussed on. It provides a finely
observed description of the shifting cultiva-
tion system of groups in Zambia, who have

learned to adapt techniques to suit local and
changing circumstances in a remarkable way.
There are very serious lessons for soil conser-
vationists here. And we should not imagine
that the techniques described, the chopping
down of combustible material followed by its
burning on a more limited (“infield”) area is
unknown in Europe. Even the 17th century
Scots cut turfy grass in outfield areas, using
ploughs, and carried it on to infield
areas for later burning. We must always re-
member the degree of sophistication enforced
by survival needs even in what people now
consider to be primitive subsistence condi-
tions.
We welcome a further contribution from
Niall Brady, this time on plough pebbles. It is
a detailed, well-documented study of new
material, presented with a source critical eye.
His view of the early dating of some of the
Irish examples is supported by recent finds of
plough-pebbles, associated with cultivation
marks in the soil, at Whithorn in South-West
Scotland. These are firmly dated by Anglo-
Saxon coins in a layer above them to the
9th-10th centuries. A report will be presented
in Tools and Tillage at a later stage.
These three articles are thought provoking
and substantial. We do not, however, in any
way wish to exclude shorter contributions,
and would indeed welcome them. We should
like to have more details about grain storage
in Northern Europe, for example; and now
that so much information on plough pebbles
has been published in our Journal, should we
not look for more from other areas? We leave
the challenge with our readers.