- Chapter Eleven -
None of these could be used as a regular plough to create a tilth because the angle of
presentation is such that the implement would bury itself almost immediately. In
north-west Spain in the province of Galicia a similar type of plough or ard was in
use in this century. In effect it was an oak hook, the point tipped with an iron sheath,
the upper curve attached to a straight plough beam fitted at the rear with two grab
handles. It was used specifically to break up ground previously uncultivated or
which had lain fallow for many years. The manner of use is especially interesting.
The implement was attached to a pair of bulls (each district kept such a pair for this
purpose as well as the more prosaic reasons of husbandry), a ploughman firmly
grasped the handles at the rear of the beam, the point of the hook just locked into
the ground surface, two further men armed with goads simultaneously jabbed the
bulls' rumps. They in turn lunged forward to escape the goads, the hook was driven
fiercely through the ground, effectively burying itself in uprooted vegetation and
soil, and the whole ensemble came to a juddering halt after 2 to 4 metres' progress.
At this point the hooked share, for such it was, was wrestled out of the soil and the
operation repeated again and again. The resulting upheaved clods were broken
down with mattock hoes into the semblance of a tilth which was then ploughed with
the regular ard. Excavation of this process revealed a typical plough or ard mark in
the underlying surface.
Re-examination of the actual prehistoric ard marks indicates the average length
to be between 2 and 4 metres, often with an area of greater disturbance at one end.
It would seem that these marks rather correlate with the kind of action of what can
best be described as a rip ard or sod buster. It is most unlikely they are the result of
regular ploughing, which can occur several times a year since, within a relatively
short time, they would be cancelled out. The implication of the ard marks, however,
does not cease with the argument for a rip ard but also supports the idea of fallow-
ing land to allow it to recover.
Finally with regard to ards and ploughing, if the evidence of the rock art is admis-
sible, then a remarkable ploughing scene from Krokholmen in Bohuslan discovered
in 1971 but previously unpublished gives even more insight into agricultural practice
(Figure 11.2). The scene clearly shows a double team of cattle, undoubtedly cows,
pulling an ard, with a ploughman at the rear holding the stilt of the ard and another
figure midway between the teams seemingly in close attendance to help steer the
cattle. The major importance of this scene is the use of a double team of cattle, in
effect increasing the traction power presumably to cope with a heavier soil. Apart
from this one example to date, the increasing of the cattle to two or more spans is
thought not to have occurred until the Middle Ages. The evidence is quite clear that
a panoply of ploughs or ards existed in the Celtic period, raising the level of tillage
technology far above that implied by the description of a stick ard. Given this level
of equipment and skill, there is clearly no particular landscape or soil type which
could not be tackled successfully.
There is an abundance of evidence for prehistoric fields and field systems to be
found in Britain. As a general rule they have survived as field monuments on hillslopes
delineated by the low banks or lynchets which formed through soil creep at the lowe!;"
side of the field, during their use. Abandonment has allowed them to become stabilized
by vegetation, and subsequent grazing means that the majority are under grass.
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