March 6, 2009
Upon Nature's Altar
Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett — if he wasn't the inspiration for Indiana Jones, he should have been. I've always like adventure yarns, and this one has the benefit of being true. More than that, science is busy revising our understanding of pre-Columbian society in the Amazon. Far from being a "false paradise" pocked with primitive tribes it appears increasingly that the Amazon once was home to a sophisticated, relatively numerous people, capable of tremendous feats of civil engineering. For a quick explanation I turned to David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z
Comments
Gavin Menzie's 2003 book 1421, The Year the Chinese Discovered America, makes fascinating reading with regard to evidence of the Chinese influence in the relics of disintegrating structures along the Amazon. More informative still is Charles Mann's 2005 book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Mann discusses the particulars of issues related to waves of migration, artifacts, tribal affiliations, soil amendment in the Amazon basin to support crops for large populations, speculation about migration from the south pacific area, and the argument made at the time to the effect that people came here as early as 40,000 years ago. There was little evidence for the argument in 2005. Apparently it is accumulating.
Posted by: Gregorio | March 7, 2009 9:23 PM
I was hoping that you might get on to the topic of "terra preta de los indios", which is actually charcoal. It is found around these amazonian settlements, apparently intentionally produced as a soil amendment, and it has been shown to make it possible to grow crops every 6 months instead of every 11 years.
Modern interest is high, because not only does this material permanently improve soil fertility, but its manufacture sequesters significant amounts of carbon, and its production is exothermic — it is an energy source. Pretty amazing! Trials are underway around the world, notably at Cornell University.
[I didn't think of it, but should've done. Mention is made in the book. Thanks! g.]
Posted by: David Ford | March 10, 2009 2:25 AM