Threshing floors

Every human observation of the sky is in some way its descent on Earth. In the past, it was done more symbolic than practical, through reflection of the image of the sky in an object that functioned like a mirror. In that context, we analyze a Dodola folk song from Serbia in which a fairy invokes rain with a mirror she holds in her lap. During the ritual she is on top of a fir tree which has all the elements of a cosmic axis – it is located in the middle of the village and stretches high in the sky. The genesis of this structure can be traced back to the neolith through figurines of women-witches with a bowl of water in their lap in which they reflect the sky. These interpretations are further supported by lexemes from the Slavic languages which reflect the connection of the words for magic, sorcery (чарати, бацати чини) and those for shallow bowls, plates (чара, чинија). Then we analyze similar South Slavic rituals designed for taking the milk of a cow or a breastfeeding mother from another family. In these rituals women go to the threshing floor, take off their clothes and put a plate with water in their lap to reflect the moon. Then they strain the water through a sieve and believed that this makes the moon descend down to earth and moo like a cow. This is a magical ritual in which the straining of the water actually represents extracting the milk of the Moon which is depicted as a deity in the form of a cow. Supporting the relation woman-moon-water- fertility we mention numerous ethnographic and archeological facts which are based on the interference between the moon cycles and the female menstrual cycles. The movement of the sun in the ancient cultures was not always imagined as a cycle, but more as a semi-circular or wavy pattern, mostly because of the absence of a wheel as a paradigm. Still, the cyclic dynamics of the sun, the moon and the starry sky were observed even before the invention of the wheel and the carriage which later appeared in the era of metals and not as utilitarian but symbolic objects. It is assumed that the threshing hold prepositioned this, being a circular platform with a central pillar around which the horses or livestock moved in circles, stomping the wheat, separating the grain from the straw. This object also appeared as a symbolic phenomenon, a mythical image of the sky which depicts the cyclic movement of the celestial bodies. Its agricultural use comes secondarily. This is supported by the fact that most constellations have animal names, as well as the entire zodiac (‘animal circle’) – The Milky Way whose names contain straw – the essential part of the threshing hold; the immobile Polar star in the center of the sky or Pole star. It is believed that the threshing floor is not just a paradigm of the sky and its cyclic phenomena (‘celestial’/’ copper threshing floor’) but of numerous other constructions as well, which used to have a strong sacral status (the antic theaters orchestra, the arenas of the amphitheaters and stadiums..). It is also the basis of many temples-observatories like Stonehenge, as well as to similar Slavic bath-houses and the temples of other European tribes which were most likely used to observe the cyclic phenomena in the sky. The components we pointed out in this paper can be recognized in the temple in Kokino but not in the form of the object but in the form of the cyclic phenomena they observed in the temple (the threshing floor circle) and the central point through which they were observed (the threshing floor pillar).

Experimental archaeology at a Natufian site in the Southern Levant documents for the first time the use of 12,500-year-old rock-cut mortars for producing wild barley flour, some 2,000 to 3,000 years before cereal cultivation. Our reconstruction involved processing wild barley on the prehistoric threshing floor, followed by use of the conical mortars (a common feature in Natufian sites), thereby demonstrating the efficient peeling and milling of hulled grains. This discovery complements nearly 80 years of investigations suggesting that the Natufians regularly harvested almost-ripe wild cereals using sickles hafted with flint blades. Sickles had been replicated in the past and tested in the field for harvesting cereals, thusly obtaining the characteristic sheen along the edge of the hafted flint blades as found in Natufian remnants. Here we report that Natufian wide and narrow conical mortars enabled the processing of wild barley for making the groats and fine flour that provided considerable quantities of nourishment. Dishes in the Early Natufian (15,000-13,500 CalBP) were groat meals and porridge and subsequently, in the Late Natufian (13,500-11,700 CalBP), we suggest that unleavened bread made from fine flour was added. These food preparing techniques widened the dietary breadth of the sedentary Natufian hunter-gatherers, paving the way to the emergence of farming communities, the hallmark of the Neolithic Revolution.

In this part special place is given to the “Myth of the Metallic (Copper / Bronze) Th reshing Floor”, present in the toponyms, legends, magical stories and in the mediaeval apocrypal texts. It contains analyses of the next mythical elements: the metallic components (threshing fl oor, castle, fi eld, plants, food …); the connection between the mythical threshing fl oor and the cosmological myths about the fi rst mountain; the relation between the “metallic threshing fl oor” and the “metallic shrine”. Th e similarity between the threshing fl oor and one type of the Slavic pagan shrines with circular form, and the representation of the threshing fl oor on the ritual loaves from the 19th century are also discussed. Elaboration is given to the chthonic and “outer world” location of the metallic threshing fl oor, and the basic actions that take place on it: the fi ght between the hero and the dragon; the holy marriage between the hero (=sky / cosmic axis) and the Earth, (=ground upon which the threshing fl oor lies).

The “threshing floor of Arawna” (or Araunah, Orna, Ornan) appears in the story about the altar built by King David to stop the plague (2 Sam. 24: 16b–25) caused by his census (2 Sam. 24:1–16a). It forms part of the so-called appendix to the book of Samuel (2 Sam. 21–24). There are many original interpretations of 2 Sam. 24, and the related 1 Chron. 21 and 4QSAMa. Studies treat the textual and literary aspects in detail and attempt to interpret the possible implications for the history of early Jerusalem, the Jebusites, the origins of the Jerusalem Temple, the figure of King David, and more. In this article, an alternative interpretation of the story about the “threshing floor of Arawna” is offered, which avoids plagiarism – at the price of losing the hero.

The article deals with a Hellenistic structure situated extra muros of the Illyrian town at Bushati. The building was discovered in the early 1990s and interpreted as a fountain. Recent Albanian-Polish fieldwork at the site led to its reconsideration as a threshing floor. This fact provides new insights on the agricultural processes during the Hellenistic Period and leads to a better understanding of the peri-urban area of the Hellenistic Illyrian town at Bushati.

This work is pointed towards the semiotic and mythological aspects of the threshing floor in Slavic culture, including the period from the Middle Ages till the contemporary folklore. According to the real form and the functions of the threshing floor, its dynamical cosmological symbolic is stressed, accenting its celestial character: - threshing floor = sky/heaven; - the hinge = axis mundi; - the circular movement of the animals = cyclical dynamics of the celestial bodies. A few myths referring to this particular object are elaborated. “The threshing Floor where the Birds are threshing Immortelle” is explicitly represented in the stories from Macedonia and Bulgaria, while implicitly its presence can be noticed in the Balkan rituals connected with the “Christmas Straw” and the legends of “The Milky Way” (“Godfather`s Straw”/”Kumova slama”). The relation between the mythologized threshing floor and the faries is elaborated through the components “Fairies' Th reshing Floor” (“Vilino gumno”, “Judinsko horo”), present throughout toponyms and legends. The second part of this work will give elaboration to the motif of the “Metallic Th reshing Floor”.

It is possible to find plenty of archaeological evidence that proves information
on agricultural production, carried out in the areas that were made effective for
agriculture in the Olba territory during the Ancient Period. Present data proves
that especially olive and grape cultivation became prominent in the area where
agricultural production were carried out. Besides the factors that indicate olive
and grape cultivation, there are also threshing floors-which have not been studied
very well until today- that prove the existence of cereal production in the area.
Threshing floors can be seen in settlements of various sizes and in farms located at
certain spots of the agricultural areas in the territory. By selecting certain examples
the context of this study researches the construction features and the importance
of threshing floors within the agricultural production in the Olba territory; datings
are also suggested for threshing floors with support of some archaeological data.
Specifically, two samples are important in providing valuable data for dating. These
samples point out to the thresing floors starting to appear in the Hellenistic Period.

My work in relation to pollen analysis at Hippos commenced in September 2009. Archaeological plasters are ideal repositories of ancient pollen, whether those plasters appear within the structures of Bethsaida, Gamla, Hippos or in Jerusalem (Geyer forthcoming). Hippos is a "gold mine" when it comes to such plasters from archaeological contexts. The plasters of Hippos, as this chapter will relate, are full of recoverable fossil pollen, and are and will continue to be a ready resource for present and future pollen data relating to historical anthropogenic activity at the site.