Carretó de batre (threshing sledge)

> Note: the DCVB does not register trill in Mallorca. In Mallorca and Menorca the threshing tool is the cart (batre). The slug remains.

What is

Carretó de batre: truncated conical roller made of stone, or made of wood with iron edges, mounted on a frame. It is dragged by an animal over the threshing floor to separate the grain from the chaff (DCVB, Mall., Men.).

The Catalan and Valencian trill is something else: a board with stones or blades underneath, or a cylindrical roller (Empordà, País Valencià).

How is

• Stone rodet in the shape of a truncated cone: it rotates in a circle without dragging.
• Bastiment: wooden frame that holds the axis (fusell).
• Bracet: pole of the cart where one end of the fusell fits (Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, DCVB).
• Animal hooked behind; morrionet (muzzle) so that he does not eat the harvest. See palm work .
• Measurements and weight: (to verify).

How is fa

• Stone carved by stonecutters (see marès i stonecutters ); frame by the fuster or master of cars.
• Tillage process: (to verify).

Com s'usa

• Summer, after the harvest : the harvest is spread on the threshing floor (erada) and the animal goes around pulling the cart.
• After: winding with fork and shovel and garbellar .
• Before or next to the cart: batre with the animals' feet (DCVB, batre).

Vocabulary

• batre: thresh.
• carretó (de batre): truncated conical threshing roller (Mall., Men.).
• era / erada: paved place of extended threshing / harvest.
• fusell: cart axle.
• bracet: stick that holds the fusell (Sant Llorenç).
• fer es carretó: to roll on the ground lying down, like batre carts (game, Mall.).
• trill: board or roller thresh (Cat., Val.); not Mallorcan.

History

• 1517: "un trill vell garnit de pedres" (Aguiló, DCVB): table trill.
• 20th century: Maria Antònia Salvà writes “trotar de mules lleugeres i batre de carretons”.
• Years 1950-1960 (to be verified): threshers and harvesters replaced the cart.

On veure'n

• Eras de houses de possessió : there are often abandoned stone carts next to the threshing floor (to verify specific examples).
• Museum of Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) .

Why is it design

• The conical shape solves the spin: a cone rolls in a circle; a cylinder would drag.
• Material that lasts centuries: local stone.
• Animal energy + gravity: nothing more.

For the project

• Photographic inventory of stone carts abandoned in eras (dispersed heritage).
• Piece: a cart as a seat or table in public space, with its history.

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=trill
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=carret%F3
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=batre
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=bracet

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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