"The straw was removed, and the grain along with the chaff was swept up, and placed in a basket."
John Carter, How to use a Flail.
The flail is one of the oldest agricultural tools known to man, having been in use for more than 5,000 years. It has served as a symbol of power and even as a weapon. Despite the introduction of motor-driven harvesting machines in the nineteenth century, it is still used to this day in some parts of the world. Its primary function is for threshing—the forced separation of grain from the parent plant.
It is not clear where the flail originated, but it was certainly used in ancient Egypt. The flail is essentially a handle—called the staff—coupled at one end by a length of leather to the end of a second shorter rod. The staff is held at the free end and the rod is swung downward and from side to side. As it strikes a pile, usually spread on the ground, of harvested wheat or other grain crop, it knocks out the husks, after which the grain can be sifted out for use.
In Egypt, the flail was used as a symbol for the royal dynasties, and therefore became, a mark of power. Often seen alongside a shepherd's crook, the two implements together symbolized the pharaoh's ability to provide food and look after his people, in the way that a shepherd-would care for his flock. The crook and flail were also the sign of the god Osiris, lord of the Underworld, and on the coffinette of Tutankhamun, which originally contained the viscera of the dead pharaoh, he holds them crossed over his chest.
The use of flails for threshing is highly labor intensive. Today the tool has been all but replaced by modern machinery. The combine harvester can—as the name suggests—both harvest the crop and separate out the grain in a single process.
