Common errors about Antiquity

[P. Clodius Secundus]

"In the more level plains of the Gallic provinces they employ the following short cut or labour-saving device for harvesting." (Palladius) This statement, coming several hundred years after Pliny's earliest account, severerly limits the apparent spread of this technology. If it had caught on in the rest of the Empire why would an even more detailed description be warranted? Unless some in-your-face evidence like the Arles mill complex surfaces, its use elsewhere is mere speculation. There are several factors which may have prevented it's adoption elsewhere. First, was the type of grain. These "header" type machines would work best with a type of wheat known as spelt, a type not particularly favored by Romans. Next are the larger, flatter, and more open fields in that region. Third, a scarcity of labor relative to other grain producing areas. I hadn't really thought about the connection with the Arles Mill until you mentioned it, but since the only industrial scale mill was found in the middle of the only area known to use the harvester, I'm guessing that there's a strong local connection. One common thread to both is economy of labor. The modern harvester was actually innvented in Scotland, but it didn't initially catch on in Europe. It saw much more rapid adoption and development in the US and Australia. Notably, both areas shared vast open fields and severe manpower shortages. Anyone else having deja-vu? I guess conserving labor isn't as important when you've got slaves or the Irish. :wink: There's one amusing story I read about an American travelling through the French countryside. He saw a farmer and his family stooped over harvesting with sickles. He asked the farmer why he didn't get a modern harvester which would help him gather twice as much grain. The farmer replied "Monsieur, I do not have twice as much grain". :lol: