Traces left by ards and a mouldboard plough in the prehistory of the Netherlands, especially in its western coastal areas

Abstract

Over and again, arable land in the coastal areas of the western Netherlands was smothered by sand drift. The buried fields provide a unique insight into the way they were tilled. Tilling tools leave traces in the soil which appear during excavations. The study of these traces shows that more than one type of tool was in use during the last centuries BCE. The tools comprise several types of ard and a mouldboard plough. The latter was used in tilling the same soils as the ard and was a common implement far before the Middel Ages.