wheeled plow

The wheeled plow, gradually introduced over several centuries, further reinforced communal work organization. Earlier plows had merely scratched the surface of the soil. The new plow was equipped with a heavy knife (colter) to dig under the surface, thereby making strip fields possible. Yet because the…

…Pliny the Elder claimed a wheeled plow was used in Cisalpine Gaul about the time of Christ, there is a good deal of doubt about that. A wheeled asymmetrical plow was certainly in use in some parts of western Europe by the late 10th century. Illuminated manuscripts and somewhat later…