Field system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article relating to archaeology is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of fields.
The size of fields often gives an indication of the type of agriculture in use when they were established. The shape and orientation of collections of fields provides clues about the date they were established.
So called Celtic fields can date from the bronze age through to the early middle ages. These fields are typically small and rectangular[1]. They are frequently coaxial - that is they form a system in which the boundaries of adjacent fields make a series of long, roughly parallel lines. The extensive coaxial field systems established by the Romans are described as centuriation.
Open fields were very large fields in which many individual farmers cultivated their own strips. In England, enclosure of open fields during the 18th and 19th century produced field systems with larger rectangular fields, often with blackthorn hedges. Adjacent areas were often enclosed at different times, leading to a change in orientation of the field systems between the two areas. The pattern of ridge and furrow will often reveal the layout of the original open fields. In parts of England where enclosure took place early, fields are often small and have an irregular shape, sometimes described as "pocket handkerchief".
Recent changes of agricultural practice are eliminating old field boundaries, particularly by removing hedges, to produce much larger fields reminiscent of traditional open fields.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Christopher Taylor, Fields in the English Landscape. However, he says the term "celtic fields" is "totaly misleading and meaningless".
