Monday, May 17, 2021

Medieval Inventions

 From Treehugger:

The plough was a pretty major breakthrough in the history of humankind and allowed people to grow crops in soils too hard for hand digging and to greatly expand their fields. Early ploughs were, more or less, a pointy stick dragged behind a draft animal, cutting lightly through the soil. A farmer would walk along with the plough and lift the plough blade so that it didn't get caught on rocks or roots. These ploughs were fine for lighter soils but had trouble in harder soils.

Enter the heavy plough, which uses wheels to support a heavier plough blade. The exact place and time of the first use of the heavy plough are not inconvertible known, but it's safe to peg its introduction to somewhere in Asia around 200 A.D. The Romans were rocking the heavy plough not too long after that, and by roughly 600 AD, the rest of Europe was on board. Farmers were able to open up extensive new fields thanks to the heavy plough, boosting crop yields and population numbers (aka all of our distant relatives). (Read more.)

 

 

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