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The Western European Loess Belt Agrarian History, 5300 BC - AD 1000

:	Corrie C. Bakels
:	The Western European Loess Belt Agrarian History, 5300 BC - AD 1000
:	Springer-Verlag
:	9781402098406
:	1
:	CHF 129.30
:

:	Altertum
:	English

:	295
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

This book deals with the early history of agriculture in a defined part of Western Europe: the loess belt west of the river Rhine. It is a well-illustrated book that integrates existing and new information, starting with the first farmers and ending when food production was no longer the chief source of livelihood for the entire population. The loess belt was chosen because it is a region with only one type of soil and climate as these are all-important factors where farming is concerned.

Subjects covered are crops, crop cultivation, livestock and livestock handling, the farm and its yard, and the farm in connection with other farms. Crop plants and animals are described, together with their origin. New tools such as the plough, wheen, wagon and scythe are introduced. Groundplans of farm buildings, the history of the outhouse and the presence or absence of hamlets are presented as well, and the impact of farming on the landscape is not forgotten.

The loess belt was not an island and the world beyond its boundaries was important for new ideas, new materials and new people.

Summarising six millennia of agriculture, the thinking in terms of the Western European loess belt as one agricultural-cultural unit seems justified.

	Preface	5
	Contents	7
	1 The Loess-Covered Region West of the River Rhine, 5300 BCAD 1000	9
	1.1 Introduction	9
	1.2 Loess	9
	1.3 The Loess Region	12
	1.4 The Choice of the Period: 5300 BCAD 1000	13
	1.5 The Framework of this Book	14
	2 Sources	16
	2.1 Information About a Distant Past	16
	2.2 Plants	16
	2.3 Animals	20
	2.4 Tools	24
	2.5 Buildings and Other Structures	26
	2.6 Land and Countryside	32
	2.7 Written Sources	34
	3 The Beginning: 5300 BC4900 BC	35
	3.1 The First Farmers	35
	3.2 Crops	35
	3.3 Crop Cultivation	38
	3.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	48
	3.5 Farm Buildings and Yards	51
	3.6 The Farm in Its Setting	55
	4 Heirs to the First Farmers: 4900 BC4300 BC	61
	4.1 The Successors of the Linearbandkeramik Culture	61
	4.2 Crops	61
	4.3 Crop Cultivation	63
	4.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	64
	4.5 Farmbuildings and Yards	65
	4.6 The Farm in Its Setting	70
	5 Innovation and Expansion: 4300 BC2650 BC	71
	5.1 A New Age	71
	5.2 Crops	71
	5.3 Crop Cultivation	73
	5.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	79
	5.5 Farmbuildings and Yards	86
	5.6 The Farm in Its Setting	89
	6 The First Millennia of Agricultural Landscape	95
	6.1 The Original Vegetation	95
	6.2 The Impact of the Farming Communities on the Vegetation	99
	6.3 Erosion	104
	7 Towards a More Complex Society: 2650 BC50 BC	105
	7.1 The So-Called Metal Ages	105
	7.2 Crops	106
	7.3 Crop Cultivation	110
	7.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	131
	7.5 Farmbuildings and Yards	138
	7.6 The Farm in Its Setting	153
	8 Part of the Roman Empire: 50 BCAD 407	162
	8.1 Roman Rule	162
	8.2 Crops	164
	8.3 Crop Cultivation	172
	8.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	186
	8.5 Farmbuildings and Yards	191
	8.6 The Farm in Its Setting	198
	9 The Early Middle Ages: AD 407AD 1000	205
	9.1 The End of Roman Rule and Thereafter	205
	9.2 Crops	207
	9.3 Crop Cultivation	213
	9.4 Livestock and Animal Husbandry	225
	9.5 Farmbuildings and Yards	231
	9.6 The Farm in Its Setting	241
	10 The Birth of the Cultural Landscape	246
	10.1 The Vanishing of the Forest as the Main Vegetation Type	246
	10.2 Erosion	250
	11 Summing Up Six Millennia of Agriculture	253
	Source of Figures and Tables	268
	Figures	268
	Tables	273
	Glossary	275
	Bibliography	281
	Index	286