Sickles

In 2006–2007, a new hoard of bronze objects was discovered with the help of a metal detector. This
collection, consisting of 6 pieces of bronze industry, can be dated to the Velim-Chrast/Kosmonosy
horizons. Although the discovery was made in the cadastral area of Chrudim, it is geographically
closer to Rabštejnská Lhota.

In Southwest Asia, the numerous mutations that have taken place around 12000 cal BC resulted in the emergence of the first sedentary societies. Hunting and gathering were progressively replaced by plant cultivation and animal husbandry as a new form of subsistence. Those changes can be observed at Dja’de el-Mughara (Northern Syria), occupied for a long time from the 10th millennium (late PPNA) to the end of the 9th millennium cal. B.C (early PPNB). The site highlights the evolution of agricultural practices during this period, also characterised by many social and technological changes. This paper aims to present some preliminary results from both archaeobotanical study and functional analysis of harvesting tools. Due to the syrian conflict, most of the lithic pieces were inaccessible, thus the functional analysis was only carried on the material from the late phase (DJ3). This work provides an insight into the evolution of agricultural strategies at one of the earliest sedentary communities. The identified taxa allow us to discuss their probable use in daily life activities. The study of more than 400 archaeobotanical samples shows that there is no evidence for morphological domestication. However, the increase of frequencies of cereals and pulses with time, associated to that of arable weeds, let consider that inhabitants of Dja’de were cultivators and not only collectors or gatherers. The functional analysis of a hundred glossy blades from Dja’de allow to understand the way neolithic groups exploited the plant resources in their environment (especially cereal harvesting) during the process of plant domestication.

The term “terramare sickles” was introduced in 1971 by Amália Mozsolics for those sickles where the angle between the tang and blade is obtuse. She also compared the sickles from the Carpathian Basin that have more than two ribs on the tang to the Italian sickles, later pointing out that difference. Concern about the appropriateness of the term has already been expressed by Margarita Primas. Because of the characteristic saddle-shaped transition between the outer tang rib and dorsal rib the term saddle-shaped tanged sickles is instead proposed. This paper presents the typology, chronology, and distribution of saddle-shaped tanged sickles.
The typology is based on the form of the sickle, the number and direction of the tang ribs and blade ribs, the presence or absence of a hole in the tang, and the position of the casting point. So far only one saddle-shaped sickle with five tang ribs is known. Sickles with four tang ribs are less numerous as well. The most numerous are the groups with three and two tang ribs and the group with two ribs on the tang and a hole in it.
The first saddle-shaped tanged sickles appear in the middle Bronze Age (BA C2). They most frequently are from the earlier phase of the Urnfield period (Ha A1), while in the later phase (Ha B1) they represent an exception.
Saddle-shaped tanged sickles with three tang ribs are widespread throughout the Carpathian Basin with a concentration in its eastern section. Those with two ribs on the tang are widespread in its western part, in Slovenia and northeastern Italy, while sickles with two ribs on the tang and a hole in it are found mostly in northeastern Italy. On this basis, it is concluded that term terramare sickles would be proper only for the latter.

Keywords: Bronze Age, Urnfield period, Italy, Western Balcans, Carpathian Basin, terramare, sickles, typology, chronology, distribution

The present text focuses on an attempt to analyze the presence of sickles in graves. Bibliographic query from the Polish lands revealed only 22 finds of sickles within cemetery space, out of which only 12 could be undoubtedly related to early medieval graves (see the catalog). Confrontation of anthropological and archaeological data has not shown any regularities in the custom of placing sickles in graves. They were placed both in female (Czersk, Jaksice, Napole) and in male graves (Brzeg, Święck-Strumiany, Tomice) of persons of different age (adultus – Czersk, Tomice; maturus – Brzeg, Święck-Strumiany; dorosły – Brześć Kujawski), placed with the head pointing westward (Brzeg, Czersk,Kałdus, Święck-Strumiany, Tomice) or eastward (Brześć Kujawski, Końskie, Napole, Sandomierz). In majority of cases they were single graves, and only in Sandomierz and Czersk these graves contained more than one person. A usually peripheral location of a grave within the cemetery space is, however, worth noticing. The inventories in the discussed graves were rather impecunious, and the sickle was often the only object found at the dead (see the catalog). Its location within a grave space was diversified. In three cases it was placed near the pelvis (Tomice, Brześć Kujawski, Święck-Strumiany), in two cases at the lower limbs (Napole, Brzeg), while in Końskie at the right side of the skull, in Sandomierz at the chest and in Jaksice it was driven into the neck vertebrae (?). The above overview of finds suggests that the custom of equipping the dead with a sickle was not common in the Polish lands in early middle ages. This situation was similar to the other parts of Europe, with the exception of the Carpathian Basin and middle Danube, (Slovakia, Hungary, Lower Austria, western Romania) where the custom was relatively frequent. Some scholars think, that these were the areas, where the custom spread westwards and north-westwards in the 8th and 9th centuries. Three concepts explaining the presence of sickles in graves can be found in literature. The first one suggests it was a professional attribute, proving the jobs the dead used to perform while alive – in this case farming or in some relation to farming. The second hypothesis suggests that a sickle in a grave proves a relation to military issues, being a weapon and a tool useful during military expeditions. The third explanation of the phenomenon bases on a sickle’s apotropaic properties, guaranteeing that the dead remains in the location of the burial and would not harm the living. Each of these three concepts is proved by numerous, sometimes parallel arguments, but the authors tend to the last concept in explanation of the phenomenon. It is supported by: placing of the tool in contact with the dead body, peripheral location of the burials within a necropolis, lack of more numerous grave inventories and ethnographic data. The fact that the burials bear no traces of defacing, present in relation to persons accused of especially malicious intents, allows us to think that a sickle accompanied burials of persons who did not cause as much fears but still some form of caution was desired.

In 2015 a hoard consisting of three objects was discovered in the cadastral area of Staré Město u Moravské Třebové (Svitavy District, Pardubice Region, Czech Republic). A Gamów-Práčov type fibula, a knife and a sickle help date the hoard to the Final Bronze Age, to the Boskovice horizon. Analogous to other Final Bronze Age hoards from this region, also this hoard was hidden on a prominent landscape feature.

The hoard was discovered in 2010 on the southern slope of the hill of Gradišče. It is composed of two tanged sickles. Comparable sickles are found almost exclusively in Ha B1 hoards. The sites where most of these hoards were discovered are widespread in the area between northeastern Italy and the Danube.
The article also presents the typology, chronology, and distribution of tanged sickles with two ribs on the unperforated tang, where the inner rib fluidly passes into the blade rib and the outer rib into the dorsal rib.

Two hoards of bronze industry were discovered during a metal detector survey and documented near Městečko Trnávka (Svitavy district, Pardubice region). Hoard 1 contained two axes with a socket and eight sickles, whereas hoard 2 contained two ring ornaments. A conspicuous high point composed of a weathered rocky outcrop situated on a prominent landmark was chosen as the deposition site by Late Bronze Age man.

A total of 42 bronze sickle blades dating from the Middle Bronze Age-B (c. 1500-1000 cal. BC) to the Early Iron Age (c. 800-600 cal. BC) are known from the Netherlands, yet these have never been studied or published in full. In this contribution, we aim to determine the significance of Bronze Age sickles in both practical and symbolic terms. Did communities in later prehistory perceive sickles solely as functional tools for agricultural tasks such as reaping, pruning, coppicing or weeding, or did sickles obtain a particular symbolic significance that rendered them suitable for votive depositions in hoards, graves and settlements? To answer this question, first a status quaestionis of European Bronze Age sickle research is presented and the terminology and typology applied are explained. Following this, the Dutch corpus of
sickles with tangs, knobs (Groups 1-2), elongated knobs (Group 3) and peg holes (Group 4) is described, with particular attention to their dating, use-histories and the context of their deposition. Moreover, analysis of their alloy compositions was deployed to classify sickles of dubious “Dutch” provenance. For all proposed groups of sickles, their supra-regional affinities are discussed. From such supra-regional affinities it can be shown that communities in the Dutch later Bronze
Age were integrated into Nordic as well as Central European exchange networks. In addition to this supra-regional integration, distinctly regional types of bronze sickle can be identified as well.

Under a working title, the author deals with Bronze Age sickles typified by a Y- shaped central rib on the handle.
The basic variant, variant a, has three handle ribs. The central rib splits into the form of the letter Y at the knob; one leg fuses with the back rib, another with the inner rib, which passes in an arc into a more or less pronounced blade rib (fig. 1: a).
Sickles of variant a were casted in two ways; in the first, the casting point is at the knob, and in the second on the back rib.
They were mainly in use in the second Urnfield period, and individual specimens in the third.
They are spreaded in Transdanubia, eastern Slovenia, Croatian Zagorje, Međimurje, Slavonia, Srem, south-western Bosnia and northern Serbia. Somewhat further removed are examples from Burgenland and Lower Austria, and a sickle from Romania is very distant (fig. 4).
A further 22 sickles, which differ in details from variant a, and are divided into a further 14 variants - presented in the appendix (fig. 1: b-o)

Keywords: Carpathian Basin, Late Bronze Age, tanged sickles, Y-motiv, typology, chronology, distribution

The contribution focuses on the study of reaping and harvesting tools which are classified as agricultural tools. Defined time frame is the period from the 8th to the 12th century. The area of interest has been geographically defined as North-western Slovakia. The source material consists of various specimens of sickles, reaping hooks and short scythes stored in the archaeological collections of the Považské Museum in Žilina. The main objective of the contribution is a typological classification of the artefacts as well as the interpretation of the examined objects’ characteristics with regard to their find’s environment.

A dispersed Late Bronze Age hoard from Sedlec in the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. A metal detector survey conducted at the Sedlec 4 site in the Ústí nad Orlicí district, East Bohemia, in 2007–2014 produced an assemblage of artefacts individually 'archaeologised' on the grounds of the settlement, and a bronze hoard dispersed by ploughing, containing ring ornamentation, a rosette fibula and round disks with a loop. The hoard belongs to the Kosmonosy horizon dating to Ha A1-2.

In the late 1950s a Bronze Age hoard consisting of two tanged sickles was discovered during construction of a factory in Cajnarje. Only one sickle has survived to the present day.
Comparisons from dated hoards place the sickle in the Late Bronze Age, in Ha A1.

The article discusses three bronze left-handed sickles and a sword that were found in the Ljubljanica River. The sickles can be distinguished typologically according to the transition from tang to blade, the width of the blade, and the cross-section of the blade. Good analogies can be found in the settlement finds in the Po valley and in Hungarian hoard from the middle Bronze Age. A mould from Italy indicates the origin of production of left-handed sickles.
The sword belongs to the short swords of the Sauerbrunn type.

Keywords: Slovenia, Ljubljanica River, Northern Italy, middle Bronze Age, river finds, sickles, moulds, Sauerbrunn type swords

The article is about a sickle found while digging sand along the Drava River near Veliki Bukovac. Based on analogies it is dated to the Late Urnfield period (Ha B1) or the Hajdúböszörmény (Miljana) horizon. The concentration of hoards containing similar sickles indicates their origin from the Middle Tisza region.

From the surroundings of the Late Bronze Age fortified settlement in the cadastral area of
Kladky (Olomouc region, Czech Republic) near the old sunken lanes, a small collection of objects dating
from the Early Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period was discovered. Due to their wide chronological
range, artefacts are most likely related to traffic on these roads that are no longer in use.

A defunct medieval village was discovered and investigated with surface prospection in the Orlické
hory mountains in 2009–2014. Oral tradition refers to the village as Hynkovice. No written records
have survived; however, material finds indicate that the village came into existence in the late 13th or the
early 14th century and ceased to exist at the end of the 15th century at the latest. The reasons for the establishment
of the village situated relatively high (670 m above sea level) are unknown, mining activities were
not confirmed. The settlement is an important indicator of the presence of man in the landscape settled,
according to written sources, as late as the early 16th century.

RESUMEN.- La intensificación en el aprovechamiento de los recursos vegetales es uno de los rasgos característicos de la economía neolítica. En el presente estudio abordamos este tema a partir del análisis arqueobotánico de los restos vegetales carbonizados y de las huellas de uso del utillaje lítico. Los materiales analizados proceden de los niveles neolíticos del yacimiento de Los Murciélagos de Zuheros, Córdoba. Se atestigua el cultivo de diferentes tipos de trigo (T. monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. aestivum/durum) y de la cebada (Hordeum sativum), además de la recolección de bellotas (Quercus sp.) y aceitunas silvestres (Olea europaea subs, oleaster). Los procesos de trabajo de los recursos vegetales se reconstruyen a partir del recurso a la información etnográfica, a la experimentación y el análisis de huellas de uso de los útiles líticos. Los útiles de sílex se emplearon en la elaboración de hoces. Se trata de hoces de vástago curvo y elementos de sílex en inserción oblicua. No se han detectado útiles de sílex empleados para labores tecnológicas sobre vegetales (cestería, cordelería, etc.). Esto se debe a que buena parte de los procesos tecnológicos se hubieron de desarrollar sin útiles o con útiles de madera, y, quizás, a que algunas de las labores de recolección de vegetales (p.e. el carrizo) se pudieron desarrollar con las mismas hoces de siega de cereales.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Arqueobotánica, Agricultura, Recolección, Etnoarqueología, Arqueología experimental, Neolítico, Andalucía.

ABSTRACT.- The intensification in the use of plants is one of the more significant characteristics of the Neolithic economy. In this paper, this topic is considered by means of the archaeobotanical analysis of plant charred remains and the use-wear analysis of lithic tools from the Neolithic levels of Los Murciélagos cave (Zuheros, Córdoba). The cultivation of diferent types of wheats (T. monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. aestivum, T. durum) and barley (Hordeum sativum) and the harvesting of acorns (Quercus sp.) and wild olives (Olea europaea subs, oleaster) is attested. The technical processes on plants are reconstructed resorting to ethnographic information, experimentation and use-wear analysis of stone tools. During the Neolithic period, at this site, sickles were made inserting lithic elements obliquely in curved shafts. No lithic tool used for technological activities on plants (basketry, ropes, etc.) was recognized. This is probably due to the development of most of these technical activities without tools or with wooden tools, and, perhaps, to the fact that some plant collecting activities (i.e. phragmites) could had been carried out with the same sickles used for harvesting cereals.
KEY WORDS: Archaeobotany, Agriculture, Gathering, Ethnoarchaeology, Experimental archaeology, Neolithic, Andalucía.

Abstract: The article presents ten previously unpublished bronze sickles, which were found in the river Ljubljanica in recent decades. Six of the sickles come with a more precise findspot. All belong to the group of right-handed tanged sickles. Their state of preservations differs, from complete examples to fragments, whereby four sickles are preserved to the level that enables typological determination. The number of the ribs on the tang, their shape and course as well as the shape of the tang-to-blade transition constitutes criteria for distinguishing four variants. Best analogies are to be found in the hoard finds from the western Pannonian Basin, western Balkans and the south-eastern Alps, which date to the early part of the Urnfield Culture period, mostly Ha A1.

Keywords: Slovenia, Ljubljansko barje, Ljubljanica River,  Late Bronze Age, water finds, tanged sickles, typology, chronology, distribution

Micro-wear analysis has been applied to one of the characteristic flint tools types (foicinhas) of the III millennium cal BC in Portuguese Estremadura. Foicinhas have a specific technological and typological character and their function has been discussed long time ago without any positive results. The present use-wear study makes clear that they are sickles. This provides information about the agricultural practices of the Portuguese Chalcolithic and gives new insights as to the biography of the foicinhas. This paper highlights the contribution of micro-wear analysis for an integrated socioeconomic approach to chipped stone tools.