Implements and Machines
Scythe
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The long-bladed, long-handled mowing tool swung upright with both hands, easier on the back and faster than the sickle it had replaced for reaping by the 16th century. It ruled the hayfield and the harvest until horse-drawn and then tractor-drawn mowers displaced it, and even then it lingered: early finger-bar mowers could not cut in front of themselves, so a scythe still opened the meadow. In most of the developed world it is now memory and emblem; in much of the world it still works.
Facts
Disputed
OriginThe scythe's own origin is unresolved and the sources disagree by a wide margin: some trace it to Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements as early as circa 7000 BC, others place the first practical harvesting scythe around 500 BC in the Iron Age; no securely identified Roman-era scythe survives despite roughly 10,000 Roman sickles held in European museum collections. It had replaced the sickle for reaping crops in most of Europe by the 16th century, becoming widespread there only from the Carolingian era (8th century AD) onward, and was itself displaced by horse-drawn and tractor mowing machinery. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Had replaced the sickle for reaping crops by the 16th century
Sources
1. Scythe (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section; replacement of the sickle and by machineryQuote, Lead section; replacement of the sickle and by machinery
A scythe is an agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops.
1. Scythe (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationEarly history sectionQuote, Early history section
Scythes may date back as far as c. 7000 BC; they seem to have been used since Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements, becoming widespread with agricultural developments.
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