[Sca-cooks] How much land to feed a person

[Martin G. Diehl]

Sharon Gordon wrote:

 > Has anyone come across any information that would indicate
 > how much land it took to feed one person in a particular
 > location, or some indirect information I could use to figure
 > it out?  The sort of thing I could use would include:
 >
 > 1) Records of what was grown on an estate or farm and some
 >    indication of how many people lived and worked there.
 >
 > 2) A plan or some instructions about what each individual
 >    or tenant farmer should grow to provide enough for food
 >    for themselves/family and enough for their payment to
 >    the landlord/church/taxes.
 >    And some idea about the average family or household size
 >    in the area.
 >
 > 3) Food rations given to a person per day/week/year.
 >
 > 4) Yield records along with what was consumed, and what was
 >    traded/sold, and what was bought.  And some indication of
 >    the size group that was eating.
 >
 > 5) Archeological evidence on farm size, crops, and probable
 >    number of people living there at any one time.
 >
 > 6) Lists of what a person should grow and store each year.
 >
 > Sharon
 > gordonse at one.net

Some thoughts ...

... as with so much of what we study, 'it all depends' ...
on when and where.

[timeline: neolithic]

I have heard that one person could provide enough food for
2 people by foraging (hunter/gatherer) ... I have also heard
that activity took only a few hours per day ... I'll see if I
can find specific references ... and/or remember who provided
that information.  (Phlip had some ideas on that)

[timeline: acreage]

sometimes the grant of land was defined by an ox hide
(cut into thin strips)

sometimes by the land that could be ploughed by a team of oxen

sometimes by the land that could be ploughed by one horse

[timeline: farming method]

The Romans introduced the 2-field system of crop rotation;

At the time of Charlemagne the 3-field system of crop rotation
was introduced ... that changed the shape of the fields ...
and also doubled agricultural output ... but took 300 years
in order to be fully implemented -- land ownership also had to
change in order for the field layout to change ... the plagues
accelerated that change.

[timeline: power, energy]

(a) From the time of the Romans ... and later

Water powered mills; (but not necessarily as efficient as they
could be ... slaves, ya know ... )

oxen for ploughing, hauling (yoke harness),

horses could not be used in agriculture because the maximum
load they could draw was 500~1000 lbs ... the tack that was
effective for oxen was ineffective to use with horses ...
and it was illegal to exceed that 500~1000 lbs limit.

race horses, on the other hand ...

(b) The horse collar was introduced Ca. 600 ~ 800 from either
China or Mongolia and spread to both China and Europe.  Might
have been first used with camels ...

(c) later innovations in Europe included horseshoes, stirrups

[time line: horses: accessorizing <g> after all ... garb
comments are always on topic]

there is archeological evidence of the wooden horse bit as
early as ~ 12,000 BCE;

saddle (anybody know?);

oxen girth harness at least Classical Greece (but how much
earlier?);

Greeks and Romans used hiposandals and solae for their
horses and attached with thongs or wires -- one source said
that wealthy Romans even used gold for their horse's hooves
... is that the origin of 'the streets paved with gold' idea?

rigid hook-stirrups 100 AD (from a Kushan engraved gem)
Kushan Empire (ca. 2nd century B.C ~ 3rd century A.D.)
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kush/hd_kush.htm

earliest evidence of horseshoes in Siberia 9th ~ 10th C.

nailed horseshoes mentioned in the Byzantine Tactica of the
Emperor Leo VI (reigned 886 ~ 911)

nailed horseshoes in common use by the 11th C.

Stirrups in Europe ca. 700

horse collar Ca. 600 ~ 800

spurs Ca. 1000 ~ 1100

iron horseshoes became common in military usage because of
long castle sieges ca. 1100's

iron horseshoes became common in farming 100 ~ 200 years later

another side question ... does anyone know when the caltrop
was introduced?

"III Corps Heraldic Items"
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Lineage/ACDSB/IIICps.htm
http://pao.hood.army.mil/ag/MPD/Redux1.htm [image]

[timeline: power, energy (continued)]

explosive growth in the number of water powered mills
beginning ca. 700's

The 3-field system introduced in the time of Charlemagne
produced oats as one of the crops ... feed for the horses
... but was that _because_ the horse collar allowed the
use of horses in agriculture or was the availability of
oats as a feed that was the motivator?  ... Ummmm, could
I get back to you later on that?  <g>

Oxen and horses provide about the same pull (ft. lbs.) ...
but the horse moves much faster and provides 50% more power
(ft. lbs. per second) and can work 1 ~ 2 hours more per day.

Modern calculations show that an ox is 30% more expensive
than a horse.

Other commentary in MTSC mention that evidence shows horses
were used in Norway in the late 9th C ... but we have no
pictures of horses working the fields until 200 years or more
later, when two appear in the Bayeux Tapestry (probably made
in Kent ca, 1077~1082)

12th C Slavic lands East of Germany, the ploughland
measurement consisted of as much as could be worked by a
pair of oxen  or by one horse." MTSC

"tidal powered mills recorded in Ireland ca. 7th C; in the
Venetian Lagoon before 1050; near Dover in the Domesday book.
Utility limited by short operating hours (6-10 hours a day);
eccentric working hours; and storm damage." CFW

[timeline: energy, power: windmills]

windmills introduced ca. 1000 ~ 1100

Pope Celestine III (1191 ~ 1198) ruled that windmills
should pay tithes,

windmills generally became common throughout Europe in the
next 100 years.

windmills were so well known by 1319 that Dante used the
metaphor of Satan whirling his arms like a windmill

	"come un molin che il vento gira"

some exceptions ... windmills were not well known in
La Mancha until the time of Cervantes.

[timeline: transportation]

pivoted front axles ... larger wagons, easier steering ...
but before that, much smaller 2 wheel carts)

ca. 1150 four-wheeled 'longa carta'

by ca. 1250 wagon usually had 4 wheels

"Friar Salimbene records that in 1248 at Hyeres in Provence,
Friar Peter of Apulia replied when asked what he thought of
Joachim's teachings, 'I care as little for Joachim as for
the fifth wheel of a wagon.'" MTSC

The switchover from oxen to horses allowed the farmers to
ride a horse to the field .,.. for ploughing, land clearing,
&c. In consequence, the farmers lived in the village and rode
a horse to reach their fields Ca. 1050 ~ 1200's.  Proof for
this comes from archaeological evidence that small hamlets
were increasingly abandoned in that time period (but at a time
not associated with a war).  This also promoted the growth of
arts, crafts, jewelry, ... access to a better social setting,
larger church, some schooling also possible; also easier to
marry off the daughters in a larger community.

================

It's too bad you didn't take my Pennsic XXX class,

     "Machines, Technology, Change: Ancient ~ Medieval"

It's also too bad (my bad, in fact) that I never created the
class handout either.

But the Good News (TM) is that I still have (and love!) the
4 books I used as references to prepare my talk on the subject ...

 From the draft handout ...

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Machines, Technology, Change

A survey of technology and change,
from ancient through medieval times.

The References

J. G. Landels; "Engineering in the Ancient World"; ISBN 0-520-22782-4;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0520227824/qid=999260727/sr=1-2/ref=sc_b_2/102-3483475-4458511

Frances and Joseph Gies; "Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel";
ISBN 0-06-092581-7;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060925817/qid=999260851/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/102-3483475-4458511

Jean Gimpel; "The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution
of the Middle Ages"; ISBN: 0140045147;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140045147/ref=pd_sbs_b_2/102-3483475-4458511

Lynn Townsend White; "Medieval Technology & Social Change";
ISBN: 0195002660;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195002660/ref=pd_sbs_b_1/102-3483475-4458511

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

These reference books offer strong utility for our studies ...

Medieval Machine has

30 pages on Agriculture and food use statistics;

20 pages on labor conditions

12 pages of notes (~ 225 notes, ~ 70 references);

12 pages of index

Medieval Technology & Social Change has

40 pages on the Agricultural Revolution of the
Early Middle Ages;

60 pages on the Medieval Exploration of Mechanical power;

even the 40 pages on 'Stirrup, Mounted Shock Combat,
Feudalism and Chivalry' offer insights into how horse power
changed agriculture during the period of study;

40 pages of notes;

17 pages of index;

and footnotes on almost every page of text

Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel has

36 pages of notes;

16 pages of bibliography;

12 pages of index

Engineering in the Ancient World has

4 pages of bibliography;

6 pages of index

Vincenzo

--
Martin G. Diehl