Imminent hunger

With the infamous Roman army on its way north, you're really in deep trouble and at your wits’ end. Will your village also be conquered? There is not enough food for everyone as it is: the fields do not yield enough, and many villagers are ill.   
 
These were the anxieties of the inhabitants of Drenthe around the year zero. They had farmed in the same way for generations. Ploughing with wooden ploughshares, sowing and harvesting. But now the yield was diminishing fast. The sandy soils of Drenthe were becoming depleted, but nobody was aware of that, at the time … 
 
More and more often the peasants laid out new fields enclosed by earthen walls, thereby turning Drenthe into what looked like a patchwork quilt. All those square enclosed fields together are known as Celtic fields. From the air they are still visible in our landscape.