Universität zu Köln

Roesch, Manfred, Biester, Harald, Bogenrieder, Arno, Eckmeier, Eileen ORCID: 0000-0003-3053-8226, Ehrmann, Otto, Gerlach, Renate, Hall, Mathias, Hartkopf-Froeder, Christoph, Herrmann, Ludger ORCID: 0000-0001-6232-202X, Kury, Birgit, Lechterbeck, Jutta, Schier, Wolfram and Schulz, Erhard (2017). Late Neolithic Agriculture in Temperate EuropeA Long-Term Experimental Approach. Land, 6 (1). BASEL: MDPI. ISSN 2073-445X

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Abstract

Long-term slash-and-burn experiments, when compared with intensive tillage without manuring, resulted in a huge data set relating to potential crop yields, depending on soil quality, crop type, and agricultural measures. Cultivation without manuring or fallow phases did not produce satisfying yields, and mono-season cropping on freshly cleared and burned plots resulted in rather high yields, comparable to those produced during modern industrial agriculture - at least ten-fold the ones estimated for the medieval period. Continuous cultivation on the same plot, using imported wood from adjacent areas as fuel, causes decreasing yields over several years. The high yield of the first harvest of a slash-and-burn agriculture is caused by nutrient input through the ash produced and mobilization from the organic matter of the topsoil, due to high soil temperatures during the burning process and higher topsoil temperatures due to the soil's black surface. The harvested crops are pure, without contamination of any weeds. Considering the amount of work required to fight weeds without burning, the slash-and-burn technique yields much better results than any other tested agricultural approach. Therefore, in dense woodland, without optimal soils and climate, slash-and-burn agriculture seems to be the best, if not the only, feasible method to start agriculture, for example, during the Late Neolithic, when agriculture expanded from the loess belt into landscapes less suitable for agriculture. Extensive and cultivation with manuring is more practical in an already-open landscape and with a denser population, but its efficiency in terms of the ratio of the manpower input to food output, is worse. Slash-and-burn agriculture is not only a phenomenon of temperate European agriculture during the Neolithic, but played a major role in land-use in forested regions worldwide, creating anthromes on a huge spatial scale.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Roesch, Manfred UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Biester, Harald UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Bogenrieder, Arno UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Eckmeier, Eileen UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-3053-8226 UNSPECIFIED Ehrmann, Otto UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Gerlach, Renate UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hall, Mathias UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hartkopf-Froeder, Christoph UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Herrmann, Ludger UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-6232-202X UNSPECIFIED Kury, Birgit UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Lechterbeck, Jutta UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Schier, Wolfram UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Schulz, Erhard UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-239242
DOI:	10.3390/land6010011
Journal or Publication Title:	Land
Volume:	6
Number:	1
Date:	2017
Publisher:	MDPI
Place of Publication:	BASEL
ISSN:	2073-445X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language SLASH-AND-BURN; CULTIVATION Multiple languages Environmental Studies Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/23924