Editing Winnowing (section)

==In Europe==
[[File:Jean-François Millet - Le vanneur (1846-47).jpg|upright|thumb|''Le vanneur'' (''The Winnower'') by [[Jean-François Millet]], a 19th-century depiction of winnowing by fan]]

In [[Saxon]] settlements such as one identified in Northumberland as [[Bede]]'s Ad Gefrin <ref>Münzenberg, Hessen. Chapel and Palas (G.Binding, Burg Münzenberg, 1962)</ref> (now called [[Yeavering]]) the buildings were shown by an excavator's reconstruction to have opposed entries. In barns a draught created by the use of these opposed doorways was used in winnowing.<ref>M.W.Thompson, The Rise of the Castle, (Cambridge University Press, 1991), 5–6.</ref>

The technique developed by the Chinese was not adopted in Europe until the 18th century when winnowing machines used a 'sail fan'.<ref>[https://prestigequeen.com/broadcasting-and-winnowing/ Broadcasting and winnowing], ''P. C. Dorrington''</ref> The rotary winnowing fan was exported to Europe, brought there by Dutch sailors between 1700 and 1720. Apparently, they had obtained them from the Dutch settlement of Batavia in Java, Dutch East Indies. The Swedes imported some from south China at about the same time and Jesuits had taken several to France from China by 1720. Until the beginning of the 18th century, no rotary winnowing fans existed in the West.<ref>Robert Temple, The Genius of China, p. 24</ref>