What tools did Viking farmers use?
Norse (a better term than “viking”) farmers used the following tools that we know about: Iron-shod spades (a wooden blade and handle, and only a thin iron edge) – used to dig ditches Iron picks – used to break up the soil, dig out rocks, etc. Iron-shod hoes – used to work the soil Iron scythes, sickles, and leaf-knives – used for harvesting. Iron turf knives – used for cutting turf to build walls for fields (more common than fences) Wooden pitchforks and rakes – used for spreading manure and for haymaking Bundles of sticks (kind of like a coarse, stiff broom) – used to break up and spread out the clots of manure Flails – used to thresh the grain. Stone querns – used to mill the flour “Arðr” drawn by oxen – used to plow fields. (Note: The iron cutting piece of the arðr lacked flaring sides, so it merely cut grooves into the soil, rather than turning the soil like a modern plow. Plows with flaring sides were used in other places in Europe during the Viking Age, but there is no evidence t
