Polished stone hoe
Azada de piedra pulida
- Date
- c. 7000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Peiligang and Cishan, Henan / Hebei, China
- Credited to
- Peiligang culture; also the Fertile Crescent
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A polished stone blade hafted at an angle to turn, dig and weed cultivated soil, very abundant in Neolithic China alongside stone spades. The basic farming tool that preceded the plough.
It appears independently in China, the Fertile Crescent, New Guinea and the Americas; the Peiligang stone spades are the clearest example.
What it led to
- Preparation of permanent fields and weed control
- Intensive agricultural labour by the whole family on small plots
- A hoe-horticulture model that persists in Africa and the Americas to this day