Field systems

The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature. Field systems by regionCzech RepublicIn the Czech Republic (ancient Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia), Ervín Černý undertook a study of medieval field systems. EnglandAlthough agriculture was practised earlier, the earliest recognisable field systems in England are neolithic. Cairnfields, which are pre-historic in date, are found in upland areas. They contain scattered stones and boulders and originated in surface clearance for agriculture. So called Celtic fields can date from the Bronze Age through to the early Middle Ages. These fields are typically small and rectangular. They are frequently coaxial - that is they form a system in which the boundaries of adjacent fields make a series of long, roughly parallel lines. The extensive coaxial field systems established by the Romans are described as centuriation. Open fields were very large fields in which many individual farmers cultivated their own strips. These were a frequently found feature in the Midlands but less s