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

TOOLS & TILLAGE VII 2-3 1993-1994

127

Among the 18 contributions to this Round-Table
conference the readers of T&T will probably be
interested in U. Korber-Grohne: “The history of
spelt (Tnticum spelta) on the basis of archaeo-bo-
tanical findings from Neolithic to Medieval times,
and the data for written sources until today”. The
author is leader of the “Institut fur Botanik” in the
University of Hohenheim-Stuttgart and an au-
thority on fossil grains. She gives a short and con-
cise overview from the first appearance of spelt-
wheat in the Caucasian mountains and northern
Mesopotamia, 6th to 5th millennia BC., to its
spread into NW Europe in the Late Neolithic and
the Bronze Age. Spelt is very labour intensive, and
therefore its cultivation has receded until in recent
time it was almost exclusively cultivated in the
rocky areas and the less favourable climates of
South Germany and the Alps. On p. 75 is a map of
finding places from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.
Dr. P. J. Reynolds’ “Study of the crop yield po-
tential of the prehistoric cereals emmer and spelt
wheats”, based on his meticulously planned and
executed experiments during 16 years on the
Butser Ancient Farm Research Project in Hamp-
shire, is a model of how experimental archaeology
should be, but seldom is, carried out. The soil of
the most actual areas is a “black puffy friable rend-
zina” with an average depth of only 10 cm lying
above what he calls “middle chalk” i.e. the hardest
of the chalk rock types. No surprise then that the
pH reaction is a basic one of 8.1.
This area is composed of three differently ex-
posed plots one on an easterly slope, another on a
southerly slope and the third on a westerly slope.
The average yield was highest on the easterly
slope. The soil was cultivated by an ard with a
steep share (the Dostrup type), and later on the
seed was sown in rows 30 cm apart using an ard
with a horizontal sole (the Hvorslev type), which
made furrows for the seed of only 5-6 cm depth,
well adapted to the moist NW European climate.
Sowing in rows made it possible to walk in be-
tween, and the weeding especially of docks (Ru-
mex so.) and thistle (Conchus arvensis) could be
done by hand.
As a consequence of the drill-sowing only 63
kilos needed to be sown per hectare. Because the
ancient farmers had to keep enough animals for

tilling and transport Dr. Reynolds decided to use
cattle manure, 50 tonnes per ha. On the easterly
sloped area the return was an average yield for
emmer of 1.9 tonnes per ha., and for spelt 1.7
tonnes. A correlation with Rothamstead Experi-
mental Station showed that the crop yield was
seemingly proportional to the rainfall. The contin-
ued fertility of the soil lies in the high organic
level, which was because of the turf cover initially
24%, but after 16 years of constant cropping it was
broadly maintained at 18%. Dr. Reynolds con-
cludes that adequate rainfall in spring releases ni-
trogen for plant take-up by biodegradation of the
fibrous material, which is also enhanced by the
inter-row hoeing of arable weeds, left in situ and
minimising the evaporation (cf. the reviewer’s
book “Hard Grains, Irrigation, Numerals and
Script in the Rise of Civilisations”, 1989, for the
drill sown field of Kalibangan, pp. 74-77).
Dr. Reynolds’ experimentation raises the ques-
tion if such an intensive way of cultivation was
common for the Celtic fields of NW Europe? As
long as Grith Lerche’s method of uncovering shal-
low plough-furrows in the black mould-layer of
fossil fields has not been tried by other archaeol-
ogists at least more regular fields that are long and
rather narrow could possibly have been drill-
sown? In the reviewer’s opinion these Iron Age
fields were presumably cropped year after year,
and intensively tilled. But this would not exclude
other fields being sown broadcast, even if this
method was specifically adapted to areas reclaimed
with the wheel-plough.
The publication on Spelt-Cultivation is
thought-provoking and can be recommended to
the readers of T&T for further study.
Axel Steensberg
ARCHEOLOGIE EXPERIMENTALE
La Terre I’os et la pierre, la maison et les champs.
Tome 2: Editions Errance, Paris 1991. 246 pp.
ISBN 2-8772-056-1.
This is the second volume of the Acres du Col-
loque Internationale “Experimentation en archeo-
logie: Bilan et perspectives” which took place at
the archaeological Open Air Museum of Recon-
structions, L’Archeodrome de Beaune, 6-9 April
1988.