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

52

NIALL D.K. BRADY

found as far down as possibly seventh-ninth
century levels; No. 68 lay in an imprecisely
dated and disturbed layer; the remaining
seven (Nos. 66, 67, 72, 74, 78 and 80) oc-
curred in disturbed strata of the latest phase
of Early Historic activity at the site, believed
to date to the mid-twelfth century. These
contexts provide a terminus post quem for the
series. While post Medieval pottery was asso-
ciated with No. 68, a more consistent associ-
ation with Medieval wares (recorded in five
of the seven cases where associations were
noted; nos. 66-68, 72 and 74) suggests that
these pebbles are Medieval in date. In Macal-
ister’s (143-149) report of souterrain 3, where
nos. 66 and 67 were found, a thirteenth cen-
tury date is offered for their enveloping fill.
The use of plough pebbles in the Early
Historic period is not apparent. The present
evidence indicates a narrow time band center-
ing on the thirteenth century. This contrasts
with their use on the continent. Dauzat’s
(482) record of them in the nineteenth cen-
tury parallels Steensberg’s (1963, 76) noting
of them in contemporary Denmark. Their
presence however, also extends back in time,
and while the many stray surface finds in
France (Patte 56) remain undated, those of
Denmark which occur in situ within the sur-
viving plough soles have been placed into the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries cal-a.d.
(Lerche and Steensberg 81-86). These Medie-
val determinations are supported by the fact
that the tanged shares which were used by
them also come from Medieval contexts
(Lerche 1970a, table 1). In Britain the pebbles
are more on a par with Ireland, although the
dating evidence is slim. Over a wide distribu-
tion from the Humber at its southern extrem-
ity to Shetland in the north, only two stones
can be dated. The first was recovered during

excavations at Jarlshof, Shetland (Hamilton
173). It was found within the midden fill of a
Viking Age outhouse (Outhouse 1G, Room
2) which was abandoned some time in the
thirteenth-fourteenth centuries (period VII),
to become a rubbish dump. The exact loca-
tion of the pebble is not known within the fill
and no associated dateable artefacts were re-
covered. However, because the abandonment
can be fixed, a terminus post quem of this
desertion may be suggested for the stone. The
second pebble turned up during an excava-
tion at Colstoun, East Lothian (Clarke 50). It
was recovered in the upper levels of a pit as-
sociated with pottery of possibly late thir-
teenth-early fourteenth century date.
While no pebbles are known from south-
ern Britain, both Steensberg (1963, 76) and
O’Kelly (170) have seen what they feel are
such on the Luttrell Psalter, dating c. 1335-
1340 (fig. 5). They take the representation of
twelve equally spaced circular objects ex-
tended in a line along the length of the
mouldboard as pebbles. The writer disagrees.
Firstly, there is no record of plough pebbles
occurring on mouldboards, even during their
nineteenth century use. O’Kelly felt that the
line of stones represented the region of great-
est abrasion to the mouldboard. However, at
this point surely the sod would actually be
starting to fall back into the furrow and the
friction driving against the board would not
be as great as O’Kelly warranted. The great-
est area of abrasion lies in the basal ground-
wrest region and there is no indication of any
stones at this point. Secondly, the regular
spacing conveys more the appearance of sys-
tematic bolting to an inner supportive strut,
than it does regularly spaced pebbles, which
on the soles are distributed haphazardly. In
support may be noted the two bolts por-

Fig. 4. Plough pebbles. Nos. 66-81, Knowth, Co. Meath. Drawn by N. B.
Pflugkiesel Nr. 66-81, Knowth, Co. Meath. Gezeichnet von N. B.