ABSTRACT
An increasing number of investigators in various disciplines have recently begun to study the problem of the origin and development of the earliest stages of agriculture. Specialized articles and monographs have been devoted to this subject, including treatments of the paleoeconomy of this important question. For studying the economics of early farming assemblages, the comprehensive investigation of the implements of labor associated with one of the critical branches of aproductive economy — agriculture — is very important. The archeological literature contains studies of early farming implements from the standpoint of methods, 1 typology, 2 tracewear analysis, 3 and experimentation. 4 Nor have questions of sociological research on such tools been ignored. 5 Ethnographic comparisons are highly significant for research into the history of early agriculture. Published works have covered a considerable range of questions and problems associated with the origin of farming and the founding of an agricultural economy, the discovery of the patterns and technology of implements, 6 the identification of the nature of agriculture, the dynamics of development of agricultural implements, 7 and the examination of farming as a driving force in the economic revolution during the Neolithic period 8 and as an economic system containing the prerequisites for class differentiation and the emergence of civilizations. 9 In addition, a number of publications have dealt with questions of the technical, technological, and functional properties of various farm implements. However, the set of harvesting implements tested and the size of the areas cropped were not representative enough to obtain stable criteria with which to characterize the productivity of any tool. 10 In this regard, interesting data were obtained in experimental expeditions led by S. A. Semenov. 11 The experiments were conducted over large areas, and a considerable number of different implements were used in working the land; rye, grasses, and feed crops were harvested on large parcels. The data on the productivity of digging tools were quite suggestive. This is less true of the harvesting implements, the number of which was limited in order to make comparisons among different types of sickles. Therefore it was not possible to trace any significant evolution within the set of types of implements tested. Identification of such evolution is particularly important, for without this it is impossible to understand the dynamics of development of a farming economy.
