Richard T. Nowitz
A farmer’s walk-in closet, this storage room lies on the other side of the window wall from the
traqlin. The kitchen appears through the open doorway, with its oven just inside the room on the right.
A plow yoke for two draft animals hangs near the top of the wall. The animals’ necks would fit between the V-shape arrangement of pegs near each end of the yoke. Other traditional tools kept here include, from left to right, a broom, a thresher and a winnowing fork. The thresher consists of two connected boards with a studded surface, created by sharp basalt chips lodged in holes. The farmer would drag the thresher over the harvested wheat in order to break the grain out of the chaff. Then the farmer would use the winnowing fork to toss the broken wheat into the air, allowing the chaff to blow away while the heavier grain falls to the ground.