Ros Faith has long advocated for the need to understand the practicalities of early medieval farming ‘on the ground’ and how these shaped the lived experience of peasant communities. This short paper will consider the contribution that experimental archaeology and archaeological science can make to our understanding of the practicalities of early medieval cereal farming. A group of archaeologists and archaeological scientists, in a collaboration with the Lauresham Open Air Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology in Lorsch, Germany, are conducting a series of farming experiments to establish what was, and was not, possible using replicas of tools and technologies used in the past. While it is not possible exactly to replicate past conditions, such experiments allow us to test the feasibility of certain interpretations through cultivation trials in which variables such as manuring, tillage methods, soil types, labour inputs, etc. are carefully measured and controlled to establish impact on soil fertility, yields, etc.
