Tools, techniques and tablets: retracing ancient agricultural heritage

The first agricultural practices appeared about 10.000 years ago in south-west Asia. This film presents the rediscovery of the first complex agricultural implement: the threshing sledge, a special instrument for chopping and threshing cereals. This discovery is the result of a collaboration among experts from various disciplines. It was by comparing different scientific analyses of archaeological finds (regular stone blades, microscopic traces of chopped plants and cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets) that it became possible to reconstitute, on an experimental basis, this fascinating tool and appreciate the important role it played 5.000 years ago in the agriculture system of the Bronze Age in Mesopotamia.