la base même du labour

English translation: the very bottom of the tillage layer

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:la base même du labour
English translation:the very bottom of the tillage layer
Entered by: claude-andrew

11:38 Oct 21, 2017
French to English translations [PRO]
Archaeology / Description of Neolithic skeletal remains
French term or phrase: la base même du labour
La sépulture d’une femme âgée
Ce squelette reposait dans une fosse creusée dans une tranchée de palissade qui barre le méandre du site de Noyen-sur-Seine, « le Haut des Nachères » (Seine-et-Marne).
Découverts à **la base même du labour**, ses ossements présentent des fractures qui résultent, pour la plupart, du tassement dû aux engins agricoles.
Il appartient à une femme plutôt âgée.
La main, retrouvée sous le crâne, avait probablement glissée sous le poids d’un bracelet.
La flexion extrême des deux membres supérieurs et la position insolite du bras droit suggère qu’un traitement particulier a été réservé à la défunte, peut-être un ensevelissement postérieur au décès.

Does this simply mean "at the bottom of the ditch"?
claude-andrew
France
Local time: 08:22
the very bottom of the tillage layer
Explanation:
"Labour" must surely have its usual meaning of tillage. As well as the process, it can refer to a tilled field ("Sol, champ, terre labouré(e)", according to the Trésor). Here, I think it must refer specifically to what is commonly called the tillage layer, that is, the layer of soil that is tilled. That is the meaning it has in the following definition:

"semelle de labour
Couche compacte du sol située à la base du labour (sous le passage du soc)."
https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/semelle_de_labour

The "fosse" and the "tranchée de palissade" are surely ancient structures, now concealed in a ploughed field. The text says that the bones have been fractured by the agricultural machinery passing over them.

Maybe the sense is "immediately under the tillage layer", and I suppose "base" could be used instead of "bottom", but that's the basic meaning, I believe.
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 08:22
Grading comment
Thanks again Charles
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3the very bottom of the tillage layer
Charles Davis


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


58 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
the very bottom of the tillage layer


Explanation:
"Labour" must surely have its usual meaning of tillage. As well as the process, it can refer to a tilled field ("Sol, champ, terre labouré(e)", according to the Trésor). Here, I think it must refer specifically to what is commonly called the tillage layer, that is, the layer of soil that is tilled. That is the meaning it has in the following definition:

"semelle de labour
Couche compacte du sol située à la base du labour (sous le passage du soc)."
https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/semelle_de_labour

The "fosse" and the "tranchée de palissade" are surely ancient structures, now concealed in a ploughed field. The text says that the bones have been fractured by the agricultural machinery passing over them.

Maybe the sense is "immediately under the tillage layer", and I suppose "base" could be used instead of "bottom", but that's the basic meaning, I believe.


Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 08:22
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 52
Grading comment
Thanks again Charles
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