Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Cutting tools
(2,030 words)

1. Agriculture

Until the late 19th century, the prevailing European technologies for mowing hay and harvesting grain were dominated by the use of sickles, short scythes or siths, and scythes [4]. The three different types of tool were fully developed by around 1500. In the course of the late Middle Ages, the sickle (a crescent-shaped blade, sometimes serrated, with a short wooden handle), already in use in premedieval agriculture, was replaced by the two-handed, long-handled reaping scythe in some regions (see Harvest, figs. 1 and …

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Meiners, Uwe and Reith, Reinhold, “Cutting tools”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_027150>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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