handle so as to form a fastening, as was done with the prongs of the rake. Fig. 5 is from Pit XXII; in this case the tang is quite straight. The edges of the sickles have been sharpened, and they appear to have had steel welded upon them. The monuments furnish more than one appropriate illustration. On the Trajan column a legionary, grasping ears of corn with his left hand, cuts them down with a sickle of precisely this pattern, which he holds in his right.[1] Another example hangs on the wall of the shop of a Roman cutler in a monument now in the Vatican.[2] A larger implement (Plate LXI., Fig. 10), found in a rusted condition at the east end of the Bath building, is possibly the falx arboraria employed for cutting branches. It is 15 inches in length. A small sickle-shaped knife (Plate LXI., Fig. 8) from a small pit or post hole in the side of the branched ditch in front of the west gate, and a heavy iron wedge for splitting wood (Plate LXI., Fig. 6) may also be included in this class of objects. A specimen of a turf-cutter (Plate LXI., Fig. 3) was taken out of the ditch of the early fort. It is virtually an anchor-shaped knife in outline, 4½ inches across, and furnished with a socket for a strong shaft. These implements are not uncommon on the Limes forts; an unusually large specimen occurred at Zugmantel.[3] They were primarily employed for cutting the turf that went to the construction of ramparts; but, as several blocks of peat came from Pit XXVIII, it is possible that they also served to cut fuel.
Four scythes (Plate LXII., Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6) came from Pit XVI. The blades are from 43½ to 35 inches long and from 2¾ to 3 inches wide, and have a strong back rib. The tangs which fasten them to the handle vary from 6½ to 5½ inches in length. At the point where the blade joins the tang three of them still have a large anchor-shaped rivet, the curved head of which was no doubt employed to fasten the blade to the single long handle. The scythes show considerable signs of wear, and one of them (Fig. 6) has been carefully patched by a piece of iron bolted on to the back rib.
With the scythes we may associate the small anvil which the mowers used for sharpening them. An example (Plate LXII., Fig. 1) came from Pit XVI. It is a solid iron peg 5½ inches long, sharpened at one end to allow it to be driven into the ground, while at the other it is flat, 1¾ inches square. At a distance of about 2½ inches from the top a hole has been
1 Cichorius, Die Trajanssäule, Taf lxxxi. c. 291.
2 Liger, La Ferronnerie, vol. ii. fig. 369.
3 Der Obergermanisch-Raetische Limes, Lief. 32, 'Kastell Zugmantel,' Taf. xvi. Fig. 55.
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