ABSTRACT
Open-field cultivation patterns hold a wealth of information about the foundation and development of Saxon and medieval farming communities and their settlements. From fieldwork techniques it is possible to reconstruct these field patterns accurately and completely, so providing a useful source of evidence. This chapter discusses the archaeological evidence for the origins of open fields, approaching the problem from some different viewpoints. The picture of open-field agriculture given by the literature is, nevertheless; descriptions of the basic elements are either entirely absent or inaccurate. It is quite clear that ridge-and-furrow can be equated with open-field cultivation from the process of comparing pre-enclosure maps with remains on the ground, or with early air photographs. Historically ridge-and-furrow patterns can be shown to be medieval where there are detailed terriers with furlong names corresponding to those on open-field maps. During the early post-medieval period the land use and cultivation of open fields was considerably different from earlier times.
