Portugal

In Portugal, vineyard workers kept a basket at hand in case the sand collapsed on top of them.

At Colares, near the Atlantic west of Lisbon, vines grow in sand much like beach sand. The sand warms up and lets rainwater drain away, which helps the grapes ripen. But it holds neither water nor nutrients, so the roots must reach the clay beneath.

To plant a vine, workers dug down through the sand, often three or four metres. The walls of the deep pits could cave in. If that happened, a basket was thrown down to the buried man, and he put it over his head. Beneath the basket there was air to breathe, and his companions could dig him out without striking him with their hoes.

Today, the vines are still planted in the clay beneath the sand, but the deep pits are dug by machine.