scythe

Harvesting tool with long wooden handle and sharp, curving blade.

It is similar to a sickle. The scythe was in common use in the Middle East and Europe from the dawn of agriculture until the early 20th century, by which time it had generally been replaced by machinery.

Until the beginning of the 19th century, the scythe was used in the hayfield for cutting grass, but thereafter was applied to cereal crops as well, because it was capable of a faster work rate than the sickle. One person could mow 0.4 hectares/1 acre of wheat in a day with a scythe. Next came a team of workers to gather and bind the crop into sheaves and stand them in groups, or stooks, across the field.