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 …