posted 2 years ago
I just watched this show, on Nova, and they came up with some interesting ideas. In the section on biochar, they mentioned that at the sites, they had been intentionally growing specific groves of trees. The species were different at each one. I think one was called a peach pear. Since the majority of us don't live in tropical areas, it seems unlikely that we would be able to grow those species. They also mentioned that the terra preta was built over hundreds of years, with normal refuse from daily living. Most Americans move, on average, every 5-7 years, so that's not really possible for most modern people. It feels like they had specific recipes, ritually and historically determined, to make their terra preta a particular way. It seems that they developed those methods through observation and adjustment. As many have mentioned here, it will probably not be possible to find out exactly how they did it. I enjoy trying to learn as much as we can, because they had such good soil, and we seem to be improving so much by trying to mimic their systems.
They mentioned a couple of other interesting ideas. One was that they had some spiral pyramids, some 5 stories high, that were 5000 years old. They had historic large scale agricultural systems, even though Western scientists have historically thought that they did not. Their systems were different, because their climates were different. Warm and humid areas with lots of rain don't allow for much storage of food, but they can grow year round. The sites are mostly located along tributaries of the Amazon. They also mentioned that a lot more indigenous people are getting involved, as archaeologists and workers, so perhaps their version of their story will be listened to more. They were able to create long term civilizations in harmony with nature, so as permaculturalists, it behooves us to try to learn how to do that.
John S
PDX OR
4
