Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (7.1992/1995)

4

J. L. MINGOTE CALDERON

works. Ele was the only researcher who tack-
led the subject from a wide geographical per-
spective, which was later qualified in other
works of a narrower scope mostly focused on
Cataluna (Violant i Simorra 1958), Cantabria
(Gonzalez Echegaray 1971) and Galicia (Lo-
renzo Fernandez 1982, 325-329), and others
of less importance.
We are not yet in a position to carry out an
analysis of the whole national territory, fol-
lowing the example of other countries such as
Portugal (Veiga de Oliveira, Galhano and Pe-
reira 1973) or France (Brunhes Delamarre
1969). There are some aspects which when
compared to those from other countries ap-
pear dubious and are subjects for the future.
Among these the distribution of the Spanish
yokes at the Portuguese border. If we appeal
to Aranzadi’s data (1946, 336) from Extre-
madura and Andalucfa we observe that the
horn yoke is present in the area. This, how-
ever, seems to be in contrast with the Portu-
guese typology for the area according to
which another type of yoke, the neck type
attached to the horns, appears there.
Based therefore on the present state of
Spanish research which focuses mostly on
typological aspects of limited scope, it is not
surprising that we have found but one brief
mention of the yoke for three animals: "...
there is no lack of cases of little yokes
tas\ of three bows [game lias] which aim to
carry a brave cow in between two other cows
already used to the yoke so as to be tamed by
them” (Gonzalez Echegaray 1971, 145 and
Fig. 10e).5
The lack of information on this type of
yoke must also be explained by its reduced
qualitative and quantitative incidence. In
most of the studies of yokes it is possible to
find references to specific types. They mostly
refer to yokes linked to certain tasks such as
aricar (to plough in order to cover the cereal
when it is starting to spring up), or associated

with ploughing crops such as potatoes or
maize which require bigger spaces between
furrows and therefore a longer yoke than for
cereals. There are, however, few mentions of
adjustable yokes whose length can be varied
just by changing a series of screws joining
both parts together; Gonzalez Echegaray
(1971, 145 and Pl. Vila) mentions them in
Cantabria and Sanchez Gomez (1991, 245 and
Fig. 24) in Sayago (Zamora).6 The differences
in the shape of yokes for carts have already
been stressed though it has also been said that
there are no special yokes for carts different
from those used for ploughing (this happens
in certain villages of Sanabria, in Zamora and
in Galicia).
There are yokes which show formal char-
acteristics though these are not strictly related
to work. Amongst them those used to take
cattle to livestock fairs or markets are the
most commonly cited in Spanish sources
(Aranzadi 1946, 344; Gonzalez Echegaray
1971, 145; Sanchez Trujillano 1991, 60).
This wide typological and functional va-
riety is also found in other countries. The use
of adjustable yokes has been mentioned in the
Bearn (France), in association with vine crop-
ping and maize (Cazaurang 17) or in certain
occasions with harrowing such as in Sussex
(Fenton 1969, 29). Yokes to take cattle to fairs
and markets are also present in Portugal
(Veiga de Oliveira, Galhano and Pereira 1973,
40, 56) or in France (Brunhes Delamarre
1969, 36, 38; Cazaurang 17). The last author
also mentions (Id 17) a small yoke, juguet,
just for one animal whose purpose was to get
the animal accustomed to it. The above Por-
tuguese researches mention in another study
the relationship between yoke size and land
conditions, pointing out that in plain areas
yokes are smaller than in sloping ones, due to
the fact that the longer yoke is the better for
the animals’ balance in sloping areas (Veiga de
Oliveira, Galhano and Pereira 1969, 73).