Editing Plough (section)

===Ard===
{{Main|Ard (plough)}}
[[File:Maler der Grabkammer des Sennudem 001.jpg|thumb|Ancient Egyptian ard, c. 1200&nbsp;BCE. (Burial chamber of [[Sennedjem]])]]
[[File:Akkadian seal Agricultural scene Louvre Museum.jpg|thumb|Farmers using a plough. [[Akkadian Empire]] seal, circa 2200 BCE. Louvre Museum]]

Some ancient hoes, like the Egyptian ''mr'', were pointed and strong enough to clear rocky soil and make [[seed drill]]s, which is why they are called ''hand-ards''. However, [[domestication]] of [[ox]]en in [[Mesopotamia]] and the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC, provided mankind with the draft power needed to develop the larger, animal-drawn true ''ard'' (or scratch plough). The earliest surviving evidence of ploughing has been dated to 3500–3800 BCE, on a site in [[Bubeneč]], Czech Republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute of Archeology of CAS report |url=http://www.arup.cas.cz/?p=12517 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829000325/http://www.arup.cas.cz/?p=12517 |archive-date=29 August 2018 |access-date=28 August 2018}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=April 2023}} A ploughed field, from {{circa|2800}} BCE, was also discovered at [[Kalibangan]], India.<ref>Lal, BB (2003). Excavations at Kalibangan, the Early Harappans, 1960–1969. Archaeological Survey of India. pp. 17 and 98</ref> A terracotta model of the early ards was found at [[Banawali]], India, giving insight into the form of the tool used.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA121 |page=121 |year=2008 |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |publisher=ABC-CLIO |last=McIntosh |first=Jane|isbn=9781576079072 }}</ref> The ard remained easy to replace if it became damaged and easy to replicate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://historylink101.com/lessons/farm-city/plow.htm|title=The Plow|website=Story of Farming}}</ref>

The earliest was the bow ard, which consists of a draft-pole (or beam) pierced by a thinner vertical pointed stick called the head (or body), with one end being the stilt (handle) and the other a share (cutting blade) dragged through the topsoil to cut a shallow furrow suitable for most cereal crops. The ard does not clear new land well, so hoes or mattocks had to be used to pull up grass and undergrowth, and a hand-held, [[coulter (agriculture)|coulter]]-like ristle could be made to cut deeper furrows ahead of the share. Because the ard left a strip of undisturbed earth between furrows, the fields were often cross-ploughed lengthwise and breadth-wise, which tended to form squarish [[Celtic field]]s.<ref name="Lynn White, Jr.">Lynn White Jr., ''Medieval Technology and Social Change'' (Oxford: University Press, 1962)</ref>{{rp|42}} The ard is best suited to [[loam]]y or sandy soils that are naturally fertilised by annual flooding, as in the [[Nile Delta]] and [[Fertile Crescent]], and to a lesser extent any other [[cereal]]-growing region with light or thin soil.