Wellmann Imre szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1971-1972 (Budapest, 1973)
Lerche, Grith: Recent datings of Danish ploughing implements by the radiocarbon method
In Table I the 12 dated implements are noted with some necessary background information, and on the map, Table II, the location of the finds are listed. The dates of these implements lie between 1490 B.C. and 1620 A.D. according to the C —14 dates. So far two ards of the sole-type — also called the Triptolemos-type — have been dated to the Bronze Age. The Hvorslev ard has been dated to 1490 B.C., and the Vebbestrup ard to 910 B.C. Three ards of the bow-ard type have been dated to the late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, among them the famous Doestrup ard which is recently dated to 610 B.C. The Hendriksmose ard is dated to 350 B.C., and the Mammen ard beam from 120 A.D. Besides an ox-yoke from Lundsgaardshede belongs also to the Iron Age, c. 330 B.C. The treating of a wooden share of arrowpointed shape from Grindsted has not yet been finished but in form it is an Iron Age share-type. 8 new finds of this share-type have now come to light. They are of a prehistoric type, but some are of pine-wood, which is a relatively recent tree in Denmark. 5 wheel-ploughs have also been dated to the late Middle Ages, between 1200 and 1620 A.D. There are the Navndrup beam from 1220 A.D.; the Linaa wheel-plough from 1510 A.D.; the Andbjerg plough from 1520 A.D.; the Onsild plough from 1590 A.D., and the Toemmerby plough from 1620 A.D. Except for the Villersoe plough of the same type, all deposit finds of Danish wheel-phoughs are now dated, because we wished to be sure that none was of Iron Age date. The most recent date 1620 A.D. of the Toemmerby plough was surprising! An earlier date given by pollen analysis in the 1930's, unfortunately referred this plough to the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and very often this plough has been wrongly referred to in references and articles as the earliest evidence of wheel-ploughs. The mistake stems from the pollen sample which was taken from a crack in the plough, but in spite of great care, this disturbing defect in a usually very exact method has misled the humanists! 17 The amount of C —14 in the atmosphere was originally thought to be a constant quantity, but it has now been discovered, as mentioned, that in some periods there was an increase in radio-activity, and thus also a greater quantity in the organisms. 18 So the C —14 date 1620 A.D. has to be taken with all due modifications, as well as the dates for the other wheel-ploughs, since the dates lie in a period where the amount of C —14 in the atmosphere was much higher than the average for the last 2000 years. 19 The Toemmerby plough could just as well be said to be some hundred years older. And this is very likely, because the construction and joints of this plough are formed in a characteristic medieval way very often used by carpenters in this period. The sheath and beam are both linked by halfjoints. The interpretation of this plough as medieval fits well with the known field-shapes from this period, but the interpretation of the plough as an Iron Age type is doubtful since for this period we only know the squared Celtic fields which are easier to work with am ard of the well known types described, from which the wheel-plough also differed so much. 17 STEENSBERG, A. op. cit. 18 WATERBOLK, H. T. op. cit. — NEUSTUPNY, E. op. cit. 19 LERCHE, G. Tools and Tillage 1:3 1970. 134.
