Furrow stock
A wooden Neolithic tool is referred to as a furrow stick or grooving tool , which was probably of great importance for agriculture, especially grain but also beans . These are pointed, angled sticks with which a leverage effect could be achieved when tearing open the floor .
With the help of the furrow stick, the soil was loosened so that the seeds could be sown in a seed bed . To do this, the stick was hit with the pointed end in the ground and pulled towards the body. The advantages of this "groove sowing" were the saving of seeds and the possibility to weed weeds better. By turning and loosening the earth, the grain was also better germinated.
Furrow sticks could also be in two parts, whereby the pointed part was perforated so that a wooden stick could be inserted through the hole as a lever.
Simple sharpened wooden sticks, also known as voles , can be seen as the forerunners of the furrow sticks . These were probably used since the Paleolithic to dig for roots or tubers. A three-pronged device later developed from the furrow stick, which can be considered the forerunner of the spade.
Rock paintings are known from South Africa which apparently depict the use of furrow sticks.
Individual evidence
- ↑ compare The Stadtarchäologie Essen presents the "Find of the Month": December 2003: Fieldwork in the Neolithic Age ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b see grave stick In: Emil Hoffmann: Lexikon der Steinzeit. (Munich 1999) p. 158.
literature
- Digging stick. In: Emil Hoffmann: Lexicon of the Stone Age (= Beck'sche series. 1325). Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-42125-3 , p. 158.