The Western European Loess Belt - Agrarian History, 5300 BC - AD 1000

Kurzinformation

This book deals with the early history of agriculture in a defined part of Western Europe: the loess belt west of the river Rhine. It is a well-illustrated book that integrates existing and new information starting with the first farmers and ending when food production was no longer the chief source of livelihood for the entire population. The long period, 5300 BC – AD 1000, is divided into six stages. Each stage has its own chapter with subchapters devoted to crops, crop cultivation, livestock and livestock handling, the farm and its yard, and the farm in connection with other farms and the outside world. Every chapter starts with a short outline of the cultural context. The crop plants and animals are described, together with their origin. The subchapters on crop cultivation deal with the operational chain from staking out fields to storage. The introduction of tools such as the plough, the wheel and wagon, and the scythe is discussed. Farm buildings, or at least their groundplans, are presented. The clustering of farms into hamlets or the absence of such aggregations is described. Two chapters deal with the impact of farming on the landscape. The eight chapters on farming and landscape are preceded by an introduction and a chapter on the sources of information. The book ends with a chapter ‘summarizing six millennia of agriculture’, a list of glossary terms and an index. Audience: This book will be of interest to researchers in archaeology, history and agriculture, and to landscape engineers.