Field Site at Sanyang Village in Neihuang Courty of Henan Province and the Iron Plough in Han Dynasty.

Some courtyard sites, traces of field ridges and big iron ploughs of the Han Dynasty were found at Sanyang Village in Neihuang county, Henan province, in 2005. The field ridge is one form of cultivation method in the West Han dy- nasty, and it was formed by the big iron ploughs like those unearthed from Sanyang Village according to the plowing experi- ment of recovery in the past. The "big ironware", which is mentioned in Discourses on Salt and Iron , a document of the West Han Dynasty, refers to whole iron plough, and it includes the oversized kind. Since the Han Government monopolized the management right of salt and iron nationwide, the production plan of the official iron workshop often refuses to consider the practical farming conditions of the peasants', such as the relative shortage of the farm cattle. On this account, the man- agement policy was then attacked by the talents and virtuous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]