536 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1937 



Egypt, for example, the ox-d^a^^^l plow long preceded wheeled 

 vehicles, while in China the exact reverse was the case. 



The early Mesopotamian plow is most often shown with two 

 handles or stilts, and, save apparently in ritual plowing, '^ the means 

 of traction had progressed far beyond the primitive rope attached 

 directly to the animals' horns. In some instances, even, we find 

 depicted on the seals what seems to be a true neck-yoke, with bows or 

 loops encii'cUng the animals' tliroats.'^ There was no slade or sole, 

 but merely a simple point. The plow-beam was of two pieces, 

 joined together and sometimes displaying a double curve sliapcd lil^e 

 the sound-holes in a violin. Beams of this sort survive in the Near 

 East to this day.'^ 



The Babylonian plow seems to have undergone comparatively little 

 change in form during the historical period. But by the latter half 

 of the second millemiium B. C, and perhaps much earlier, there was 

 sometimes attached to it a "seeder" — an upright tube open at both 

 ends, through which an attendant dropped the seed-corn as the plow- 

 ing went on.'® This apparatus appears also on Assyrian plows; 

 representations occur on the walls of Sargon's palace at Kliorsabad " 

 and on monuments of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon.'^ Somewhat 

 similar features shown on seals are interpreted as representing a man 

 pushing down the plow point with a stick; but perhaps in reality 

 what are intended are "seeders." '^ Little if any evidence exists for 

 the very early use of metal shares in Mesopotamia; and indeed it is 

 unlikely that such were ever regularly employed anywhere before 

 iron came into general use.-" 



That cattle were the only animals attached to the plow by the 

 ancient Babylonians seems clear. It has been asserted that on one 

 very early carving a man is shown plowing with an antelope; however 

 nothing in the way of a plow is depicted here, and what we have is in 

 realit}'' a hunting scene. ^' 



We are far better informed in regard to the ancient Egyptian plow, 

 of which we have so many representations, from the Third Dynasty 



" See fig. 5, representing a late Cassite plowing scene, obviously ritual in character; the difference in the 

 position of the animals' beads emphasizes the absence of a yoke. 



1* Ward, W. n., The seal cylinders of We.'stern Asia, p. 132, Nos. 3G9, 371, 1910. 



" For a modern instance see Festschrift: Publication d'hommage ollerte au P. W. Schmidt, 1928; Leser, 

 Paul, Westosliche Landwirtschaft, p. 434, fig. 32. 



'« See flg. 5, p. 528. 



" Le.ser, Paul, Entstehung und Verbreitung des Pfluges, p. 247 and note 53, 1931. Plowshares were 

 among the iron objects found in Sargon's palace. Some are now in the Louvre. 



19 For an example from a monument of Esarhaddon, cf. Pinches, O. T., The old testament in the light of 

 the historical records of Assyria and Babylonia, pi. 13, opp. p. 208, 1902. 



i» Ward, op. cit., pp. 132, 133. 



w For plow irons at Gorar about the twelfth century B. C, cf. WainwTight, O. A., The coming of iron. 

 Antiquity, 1930, p. 19. 



>' For the scene thus wrongly explained, see Hilprecht, H. V., The Babylonian Expedition of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania, vol. 1, pi. 16, p. 88, 1893; also Ward, op. cit., p. 30, no. 65. Dr. Legraln has confirmed 

 my own suspicions in regard to the true purport of this carving. 



