The axe is a tool used for cutting wood.

The Stone Age axe was used1.5 million years BC withouta handle.

Later it was fastened to a wooden handle.

When copper, bronze,iron and steel appeared,axes made up of thesematerials started to beused.

It was also used as a weapon for fighting in the Middle Ages.

When agriculture was firstdeveloped, simple hand-held diggingsticks and hoes were used.

The rudimentaryplough, a modifiedtree branch, wasadapted later to bepulled by oxen.

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A coulter is a vertically mounted component of many ploughs that cuts an edge of about 18 cm. Its most effective depth is determined by soil conditions.

A ploughshare is the cutting or leading edge of a mouldboard which closely follows the coulter when ploughing.

A mouldboard is the curved steel blade of a plough that turns the furrow.

Digging StickIt consists of a pointed stick, sometimes having astone or crossbar attached.

It is used to loosen and till the soil and to extractplants.

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Digging Stick

The earliest ploughs were digging sticksdecorated with handles for pulling orpushing.

A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural tool used to move small amounts of soil.

In the Sumerianmythology, Enlil,the God of airand wind, wascredited with theinvention of thehoe.

SickleA sickle is ahand-heldagricultural toolwith a curvedblade used forharvesting graincrops or cuttinggrass.

The sickle appeared inEurope in the 12th century.Its use has greatlydiminished after theinvention of mechanicalmowers.

History

The scythe often appears as a weapon in the hands of the Death. It derives from the Biblical belief of the Death as the “harvester of souls”.

Comenius Project “Lost in Time”Istituto Superiore “Majorana”Palermo (Italy)