A threshing board, also called a tribulum, is a now obsolete implement made of a thick, slatted board with stone flakes or metal blades set into its underside and a curved, sled like front end so it could be dragged. Farmers pulled it in circles over grain spread on a threshing floor, usually behind a draft animal, and the sharp flakes or blades cut the stalks while the weight of the board and its rider separated the grain from the straw. Archaeological finds place threshing boards in the Near East and the Balkans at least 8,000 years ago, and Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from around 3350 BC already record the tool; it spread across the Mediterranean and the Middle East and, through Carthaginian contact, to the Iberian Peninsula, surviving in Mediterranean and Islamic farming long after it vanished from most of Western Europe, and Spanish craftsmen kept building them until mechanized agriculture finally ended the practice in the 1950s and 1960s.
Facts
OriginArchaeological remains show threshing boards at least 8,000 years old in the Near East and the Balkans, and sandstone tablets from Kish dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC appear to picture them. 1 Classification
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the threshing board (tribulum) and the flail are alternate traditional hand-threshing methods for the same task in different regions
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1. Threshing Board (Wikipedia)
History section, archaeological evidence
discovered archaeological remains that demonstrate the existence of threshing boards at least 8,000 years old in the Near East and Balkans.
History section, cuneiform tablets from Kish
appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces, next to some numeric symbols and other pictograms.
Threshing with the threshing board section, oxen or mules sentence
A pair of oxen or mules pulls the threshing board by means of a chain or a strap fixed to a hook nailed in the front plank
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Kish tablets sentence
several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, which could be the world's oldest surviving written record, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
Origins section, Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets paragraph
The threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered: specifically, several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, which could be the world's oldest surviving written record, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
History, Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Kish tablet caption
Engraved tablet from Kish, dating from 3350 BC, with representations of threshing boards on both sides
History section, Mesopotamia and Kish tablets sentence
The threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered: specifically, several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, which could be the world's oldest surviving written record, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
History section, Kish tablets
several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms
Origins section, cuneiform tablets paragraph
Descriptions also appear in numerous cuneiform clay tablets as early as the third millennium BC.
Kish tablets passage
Several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC, appear to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces.
Classical written records section, Sumerian documentation
dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC.
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, Aratashen sentence
The most productive archaeological site is Aratashen, Armenia: a village occupied between 5000 and 3000 BC (Neolithic and Copper Age).
Opening paragraph
A threshing board, also known as threshing sledge, is an obsolete agricultural implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh.
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, Kish tablets sentence
The threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered
History section, Kish tablet image caption
Engraved tablet from Kish, dating from 3350 BC, with representations of threshing boards on both sides
Arslantepe-Malatya cylinder seal section
a figure seated on a threshing board, with a clear image of the lithic flakes inlaid in the bottom
Origins section, Kish tablets sentence
specifically, several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, which could be the world's oldest surviving written record, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Kish tablet image caption
Engraved tablet from Kish, dating from 3350 BC, with representations of threshing boards on both sides
Origins section, Kish tablet sentence
dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period)
Cuneiform tablets paragraph, Ashmolean tablet sentence
One of these tablets, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University, appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces, next to some numeric symbols and other pictograms.
Opening definition
A threshing board, also known as threshing sledge, is an obsolete agricultural implement used to separate cereals from their straw.
Kish tablets section
One tablet preserved at Oxford University appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces, next to some numeric symbols and other pictograms.
Origins section, cuneiform tablets from Kish sentence
The threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered: specifically, several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms.
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, cuneiform tablets sentence
Descriptions also appear in numerous cuneiform clay tablets as early as the third millennium BC.
Cuneiform records section, Kish tablets
the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period)
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, Ashmolean tablet sentence
appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces, next to some numeric symbols and other pictograms.
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Ashmolean tablet sentence
One of these tablets, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University, appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces, next to some numeric symbols and other pictograms.
Origins section, Mesopotamian cuneiform documents sentence
since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered
Origins section, Kish tablet caption
Engraved tablet from Kish, dating from 3350 BC, with representations of threshing boards on both sides
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Aratashen sentence
a village occupied between 5000 and 3000 BC
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, cuneiform tablets sentence
Descriptions also appear in numerous cuneiform clay tablets as early as the third millennium BC.
Origins section, Kish tablets
engraved with cuneiform pictograms
Mesopotamia section, Kish tablets sentence
Threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered
Origins section, cylinder seal evidence sentence
dated to 3374 BC using dendrochronology
History, Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age, Kish tablets sentence
The threshing boards must have been important in the protohistory of Mesopotamia, since they already appear in some of the oldest written documents discovered: specifically, several sandstone tablets from the early town of Kish (Iraq), engraved with cuneiform pictograms, which could be the world's oldest surviving written record, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
Origins section, Mesopotamian tablets sentence
dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, cuneiform tablet sentence
One of these tablets, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University, appears to have pictures of threshing boards on both faces.
Origins in the Neolithic and Copper Age section, Kish tablet sentence
dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Uruk period).
Origins section, dendrochronology dating sentence
The archaeological layers were dated to 3374 BC using dendrochronology.
Lead
A threshing board, also known as threshing sledge, is an obsolete agricultural implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh.
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