"People plough hopefully..." : Polish traditional tools for land cultivation in the light of ethnographic sources and ethnological methods

In the submitted article the traditional tools for land cultivation in Poland are only briefly introduced. There was not enough space for mentioning the harrow or, more importantly, for the depiction of the systems of the plants grown and their cultivation. An analysis of the superstitions, customs, and rituals connected with agriculture would have been interesting as well. On the basis of the presented data we can consider Poland a land with intensive influences from the west. Archaic manifestations were preserved longer in the northeastern part of Poland (e.g. forked branches), which had remained a woodland until the mid-19th century, as well as in the mountainous southeastern part (longer use of rudimentary forms of ploughs). The rest of the land was characterized by adopting new elements similar to those in Western Europe. Further progress of the research depends on extensive comparative studies exceeding the scale of one country, or even a continent. Taking into account the ethnocartographic method is imperative in this case, and the appendix with a list of maps can also make the whole work easier. The retrospective method can lead to the ethnologist's success too, as it takes into account the historical, archaeological and linguistic materials