The Roman Era Grain Harvester

In Roman times a harvester was developed which was described by the historian Pliny the Elder in 77 AD.  It was called the Gallic Vallus.  According to Pliny, "on the vast estates in the provinces of Gaul very large frames fitted with teeth at the edge and carried on two wheels are driven through the corn by a donkey pushing from behind; the ears torn off fall into the frame."

Scenes carved into stone tombstones show several views of how the first mechanized harvestor worked.  The teeth were rows of sharp knives, and behind the knives was a box for holding the cut corn or grain.  A worker pushed the crop into the teeth of the harvester, and the harvester was pushed forward by the donkey from behind the harvestor.



The technology of the vallus was lost when the Roman world declined, and was not reinvented until the 18th century, almost 2000 years later. 

Comments

[Vallus István]

Hello.

Now I make one book. Theme: Treveri s harvesting machine in Hungaryan last name.
Very interesting.

Greeting from Hungary Vallus István

[Ahmed Fasih]

Terry Jones in his "Barbarians" asserts that the vallus was a Celtic invention, not a Roman one, made possible in part by Celtic metalsmithing superior to Roman. I'll try to track down this 1983 paper by P.J. Reynolds titled "Reconstruction of the vallus---the Celtic reaping machine" (Bull. Experimental Archaeology 3).