The Adyghe have used the sickle as an agricultural tool since ancient times, which is confirmed by archaeological data. Small sickles were found at the sight of the Sindi settlement and in the underground burial grounds around Kuban. They were found in men’s graves. According to the archaeologist Nikita Vladimirovich Anfimov, this indicates the use of male labor during harvest, as well as the religious significance of the sickle in the Adyghe culture.

The Adyghe Nart epic tells the story of how Tlepsh, the god of iron, made the first sickle. He learned the secret of its manufacture from a woman named Worsar.

In the 19th century, the Adyghe used sickles with a serrated edge. They also had sickles with steel blades. They were small in size. The Adyghe sickle was slightly flattened at the base of the handle to protect the hand from being cut. These tools were made by local blacksmiths.

In the 1880s, factory-made sickles began to be imported to Adygea from central Russia and gradually replaced those produced locally.

Harvesting began in June. Grains were collected with sickles. Along with sickles, small scythes were used for harvesting wheat and barley — both tools were used exclusively by men. To prevent the grain from shedding, rye was harvested with a sickle, not a scythe. Harvesting corn implied much physical exertion. Men, women and teenagers took part in this process. First, the ears of the corn were broken off, and then the stalks were cut with a sickle. Stalks were later used to feed cattle.

In the first half of the 19th century, heavy and light plows, hoes, sickles, scythes, pitchforks, wooden and stone rollers for threshing were the main agricultural tools of the Adyghe. By the end of the 19th century, locally-produced plows, scythes and harrows were replaced by more advanced imported tools. The Adyghe got hold of new agricultural machinery, like the steam thresher and the mower, however, only wealthy families could acquire these tools and machines.

The sickle from the collection of the Adygeysk Museum of Local Lore is approximately 70 years old. It was donated to the museum in 1997 by Muliat Makhmudovna Panesh.