AU  - Halstead,Paul
TI  - Two oxen ahead: pre-mechanized farming in the Mediterranean 
SN  - 9781405192835
AV  - HD2055.7 H35 2014
PY  - 2014///
CY  - Hoboken, New Jersey
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
KW  - Agriculture
KW  - Economic aspects
KW  - Mediterranean Region
KW  - Farm management
KW  - Land use, Rural
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; 1. Introduction : Mediterranean farming between longue durée and contingency -- Fieldwork -- Scales of analysis -- 2. Working the Earth : Tillage and Sowing -- Two-oxen households in Paliambela -- Scratching a living in the hills of Messenia -- Tillage time and sowing season from Assiros to Asturias --  Juggling with seedcorn -- Flexible farmers -- Ard, hoe, and scale of cultivation -- Tillage and sowing in the past -- 3. Harvest Time -- Amorgos : from field to threshing floor -- When to reap --  What and how to reap -- After reaping: Binding, drying, and transporting the harvest -- Who and how many to reap -- Harvest ceremonies -- Reaping in the past -- 4. Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff -- Amorgos : On and after the threshing floor -- Ways of threshing -- Ways of winnowing and coarse sieving -- Cleaning for storage and consumption -- Storage -- Consumption -- Questions of scale : Labor and time stress -- Threshing floor customs -- Crop processing in the past --  5. Managing the Land : coping with failure and planning for success -- Watching the corn grow --Planning for success: Fallowing and rotation -- Planning for success : Manuring -- Planning for success, mitigating failure : Irrigation -- Averting failure : Weeding --  Crop husbandry and crop yields -- Crop husbandry and yields in the past -- 6. Family Planning : land, labor and livestock -- Clearance -- Long-term improvement : Deep tillage, terracing, and enclosure -- Extending and improving cultivable land : Drainage and irrigation -- Counting the cost of extension and improvement -- Subsistence and cash crops -- Mixed farming: Livestock -- Labor, land, and livestock : The domestic cycle -- Household and community -- Land, labor, and livestock in the past --7. Homo agronomicus? Mediterranean Farming, Present and Past -- Analogies for the past : "Matters of fact" and "matters of interest" -- Cultural reason --  Environmental and technological constraints -- Practical reason: Costs, benefits, and knowledgeable farmers -- Ancient farmers: Knowledgeable and rational? --  Farming in the Mediterranean: Analogy and change.
N2  - "This revealing study shows how careful analysis of recent farming practices, and related cultural traditions, in communities around the Mediterranean can enhance our understanding of prehistoric and Greco-Roman societies.  Includes a wealth of original interview material and data from field observation  Provides original approaches to understanding past farming practices and their social contexts  Offers a revealing comparative perspective on Mediterranean societies' agronomy  Identifies a number of previously unrecorded climate-related contrasts in farming practices, which have important socio-economic significance  Explores annual tasks, such as tillage and harvest ; inter-annual land management techniques, such as rotation ; and intergenerational issues, including capital accumulation  "--; "Explores annual tasks, such as tillage and harvest ; inter-annual land management techniques, such as rotation ; and intergenerational issues, including capital accumulation"--
ER  -