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Superdirt Made Lost Amazon Cities Possible
nationalgeographic ^

Posted on 11/30/2008 3:36:23 PM PST by JoeProBono

Centuries-old European explorers' tales of lost cities in the Amazon have long been dismissed by scholars, in part because the region is too infertile to feed a sprawling civilization. But new discoveries support the idea of an ancient Amazonian urban network—and ingeniously engineered soil may have made it all possible.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: agriculture; amazon; amazonia; animalhusbandry; annaroosevelt; brazil; dietandcuisine; dirt; godsgravesglyphs; huntergatherers; preclovis; precolumbianamazon; rainforest; sahara; slashandburn; soil; terrapreta
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Now scientists are trying to recreate the recipe for the apparently human-made supersoil, which still covers up to 10 percent of the Amazon Basin. Key ingredients included of dirt, charcoal, pottery, human excrement and other waste.

If recreated, the engineered soil could feed the hungry and may even help fight global warming, experts suggest.

Video Clip From Lost Cities of the Amazon Documentary

1 posted on 11/30/2008 3:36:23 PM PST by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono

The artical identified itself as junk science as soon as it began parroting the “Global warming” line.


2 posted on 11/30/2008 3:39:03 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping.


3 posted on 11/30/2008 3:42:08 PM PST by rdl6989
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To: All

4 posted on 11/30/2008 3:44:30 PM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: All

5 posted on 11/30/2008 3:46:21 PM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: JoeProBono

6 posted on 11/30/2008 3:48:22 PM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: JoeProBono

Yes, we call it “manure” now.


7 posted on 11/30/2008 3:48:48 PM PST by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
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To: JoeProBono

They used the super rich natural compost piles found in their swamps and low lands!


8 posted on 11/30/2008 3:53:57 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: JoeProBono

You’d better be careful if you’re going to mix human waste in with the soil you grow food in. All kinds of nasty diseases are possible, including cholera.

There may be a reason these cities were empty when the Conquistadors found them.


9 posted on 11/30/2008 4:01:20 PM PST by seowulf (Discipline knows no emotion and frequently runs counter to the whims of panic or elation.)
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To: JoeProBono

10 posted on 11/30/2008 4:18:06 PM PST by Daffynition ("Beauty is in the sty of the beholder." ~ Joe 6-pack)
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To: JoeProBono
Oh goody ... Let us recreate our civilization after the Amazon tribes’. They are to be admired and imitated. EVERYBODY! Off with your pants and into the nearest river. Wahhooooooo!
11 posted on 11/30/2008 5:04:30 PM PST by TexGuy (If it has the slimmest of chances of being considered sarcasm ... IT IS!)
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To: JoeProBono

This soil type was described briefly in the book 1941 by Charles C. Mann.
Seems that many indigenous people still farm on the soil to this day.
Quite an amazing legacy.


12 posted on 11/30/2008 5:24:48 PM PST by JerseyHighlander
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Amazonian find stuns researchers
The Seattle Times | 9-20-03 | By Thomas H. Maugh II
Posted on 09/20/2003 6:15:45 PM PDT by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/986400/posts

and, for many more related links, see:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2070246/posts?page=25#25
in:
Scientists find ancient lost settlements in Amazon
Reuters | Aug 28, 2008 | Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Maggie Fox
Posted on 08/28/2008 5:54:59 PM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2070246/posts

‘Lost towns’ discovered in Amazon
BBC News | 8-28-08
Posted on 09/19/2008 4:43:17 AM PDT by Renfield
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2085718/posts

unrelated, but still interesting:

Amazon ‘Outgrows Nile’
The Telegraph (UK) | 6-18-2007 | Andrew Downie
Posted on 06/17/2007 7:45:47 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1851895/posts


13 posted on 11/30/2008 5:59:46 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: rdl6989; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks rdl6989.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


14 posted on 11/30/2008 6:01:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: ScreamingFist

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
how does your garden grow?
With silver bells
and cockle shells
and a little manure
just to be sure...


15 posted on 11/30/2008 6:15:21 PM PST by null and void (Hey 0bama? There will be a pop quiz every day for the next four years...miss a question, people die.)
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To: JoeProBono
Key ingredients included of dirt, charcoal, pottery, human excrement and other waste.

Sounds like the carpet inside an Obama supporter's home.

16 posted on 11/30/2008 7:20:22 PM PST by pabianice
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To: Daffynition

17 posted on 11/30/2008 8:07:22 PM PST by JoeProBono ( Loose Associations - Postcards from My Mind)
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To: seowulf

Didn’t that happen in our spinach crop a few years ago...


18 posted on 11/30/2008 8:10:26 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: SunkenCiv; JoeProBono
TERRA PRETA/LINK.

"Terra Preta de Indio" (Amazonian Dark Earths, earlier also called “Terra Preta do Indio” or Indian Black Earth) is the local name for certain dark earths in the Brazilian Amazon region. These dark earths occur, however, in several countries in South America (Brazil, Ecuador and Peru) and possibly beyond.

As ecologically rich as the rainforest may appear, the soil it stands in is unsuited to farming – largely a result of the incessant rain washing away all nutrients. But those pockets of soil that are Terra Preta, are suitable for farming and thus form an out of place patch of fertility in an otherwise harsh environment. In fact, it has the ability to maintain nutrient levels over hundreds of years. According to Bruno Glaser, a chemist at the University of Bayreuth, "If you read the textbooks, it shouldn't be there." According to a study led by Dirse Kern of the Museu Goeldi in Belem, Terra Preta is "not associated with a particular parent soil type or environmental condition", suggesting it was not produced by natural processes...


19 posted on 12/01/2008 3:03:23 AM PST by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM)
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To: Fred Nerks

thanks Fred Nerks!

Rainforest Researchers Hit Paydirt (Farming 11K Years Ago in South America)
University Of Vermont | 8-29-2002 | Lynda Majarian
Posted on 08/30/2002 10:11:59 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/742036/posts


20 posted on 12/01/2008 7:06:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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