DOI Artikel:
Editorial
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49004#0077
EDITORIAL
Many changes have taken place since our last
issue, and new directions are being followed.
Change is, after all, one of the most constant
factors in human existence, and the trick is to
take advantage of changes, and not to be
overcome by them. There has been a period
of difficulty for the International Secretariat,
but that is now coming to an end.
The first thing to do is for Grith Lerche’s
two fellow editors to congratulate her most
warmly on the completion of her doctorate
for the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
University. This was on Ploughing Imple-
ments and Tillage Practices in Denmark from
the Viking Period to About 1800, Experimen-
tally Substantiated, and it has now been pub-
lished as a massive new work that throws
light on aspects of the medieval farming sys-
tems that have not hitherto been properly un-
derstood. Interpretation of a wide range of
evidence flows from close observation of ex-
perimental ploughing over several years, and
there is no doubt that this volume will gain
greatly in importance as an increasingly wide
audience of agricultural historians, soil scien-
tists and many others, read it and absorb the
contents, and begin to put them into practice.
As from 1 May 1995, the International Sec-
retariat has moved to the Department of
Dairy and Food Science at the Royal Vete-
rinary and Agricultural University. We spent
over 26 years in comfortable rooms under the
aegis of the Danish National Museum, and
we are very grateful to them. We are happy to
say that a link will continue, since the Na-
tional Museum will remain as the publisher of
Tools and Tillage.
We now look forward to a long and fruitful
association with the University, but as a con-
sequence of this, some changes must be made.
Our address is now different, and the name of
the Secretariat will be changed to the Interna-
tional Secretariat for Research on the History
of Agrarian and Food Technology. This does
not mean that the principles on which the
Journal, Tools and Tillage, operates will be
changed, though there will be a widening of
the range of material covered. We shall con-
tinue to publish primary research work from
different parts of the world, by young and by
established scholars, and we shall continue to
welcome the results of such research on lo-
cally adapted cereals, root crops, growing and
preparation methods, and the associated tool
complexes. Information on irrigation me-
thods, multi-cropping systems, and on slash-
ing, storage, and milling of normal and spe-
cial food crops, will also be welcome.
The contents of the present issue range ge-
ographically from Scotland through the
Netherlands, two Baltic countries, and as far
as China. In time, we range from the very
early Neolithic Period, down to the early
Middle Ages.
The five articles .all, as it happens, contain
new and important radiocarbon datings, by
means of which it becomes increasingly pos-
sible to apply scientific checks to humanistic
considerations, and to efforts to organise
chronologies through the use of typology.
Sometimes remains are so fragmentary, that it
is only by the use of scientific techniques that
we can begin to feel some degree of certainty
as regards the dating of agricultural tools and
activities in the past.
It is a fine scoop that in this issue we pre-
sent the latest investigations of Celtic fields,
block-shaped fields and strip fields in Estonia
at the same time as an effort is made to link
the narrow prehistoric strip cultivation of
Scotland with the late medieval and even later
Continued on page 118
Many changes have taken place since our last
issue, and new directions are being followed.
Change is, after all, one of the most constant
factors in human existence, and the trick is to
take advantage of changes, and not to be
overcome by them. There has been a period
of difficulty for the International Secretariat,
but that is now coming to an end.
The first thing to do is for Grith Lerche’s
two fellow editors to congratulate her most
warmly on the completion of her doctorate
for the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
University. This was on Ploughing Imple-
ments and Tillage Practices in Denmark from
the Viking Period to About 1800, Experimen-
tally Substantiated, and it has now been pub-
lished as a massive new work that throws
light on aspects of the medieval farming sys-
tems that have not hitherto been properly un-
derstood. Interpretation of a wide range of
evidence flows from close observation of ex-
perimental ploughing over several years, and
there is no doubt that this volume will gain
greatly in importance as an increasingly wide
audience of agricultural historians, soil scien-
tists and many others, read it and absorb the
contents, and begin to put them into practice.
As from 1 May 1995, the International Sec-
retariat has moved to the Department of
Dairy and Food Science at the Royal Vete-
rinary and Agricultural University. We spent
over 26 years in comfortable rooms under the
aegis of the Danish National Museum, and
we are very grateful to them. We are happy to
say that a link will continue, since the Na-
tional Museum will remain as the publisher of
Tools and Tillage.
We now look forward to a long and fruitful
association with the University, but as a con-
sequence of this, some changes must be made.
Our address is now different, and the name of
the Secretariat will be changed to the Interna-
tional Secretariat for Research on the History
of Agrarian and Food Technology. This does
not mean that the principles on which the
Journal, Tools and Tillage, operates will be
changed, though there will be a widening of
the range of material covered. We shall con-
tinue to publish primary research work from
different parts of the world, by young and by
established scholars, and we shall continue to
welcome the results of such research on lo-
cally adapted cereals, root crops, growing and
preparation methods, and the associated tool
complexes. Information on irrigation me-
thods, multi-cropping systems, and on slash-
ing, storage, and milling of normal and spe-
cial food crops, will also be welcome.
The contents of the present issue range ge-
ographically from Scotland through the
Netherlands, two Baltic countries, and as far
as China. In time, we range from the very
early Neolithic Period, down to the early
Middle Ages.
The five articles .all, as it happens, contain
new and important radiocarbon datings, by
means of which it becomes increasingly pos-
sible to apply scientific checks to humanistic
considerations, and to efforts to organise
chronologies through the use of typology.
Sometimes remains are so fragmentary, that it
is only by the use of scientific techniques that
we can begin to feel some degree of certainty
as regards the dating of agricultural tools and
activities in the past.
It is a fine scoop that in this issue we pre-
sent the latest investigations of Celtic fields,
block-shaped fields and strip fields in Estonia
at the same time as an effort is made to link
the narrow prehistoric strip cultivation of
Scotland with the late medieval and even later
Continued on page 118