[Terrapreta] Charcoal--- what sort?

[rukurt at westnet.com.au]

Sean K. Barry wrote:
> Hi Kurt,
>  
> You said,
>  
> "Additionally, we have little real knowledge of the role of pottery 
> shards in the process."
> ----------
>  
> Did you see the post (from Joe?, I think ) about the "spore bomb" 
> idea.  How pottery shards can hold microorganism populations of fungi 
> and food bacteria, and maybe work as microbe inoculants into the Terra 
> Preta?
>  
> SKB
Yes I did, but it is not "real knowledge", it is an idea of what *might* 
have been the intention of putting the shards there. It ascribes a 
possibly excessive knowledge of microbiology to the Indios, who were 
probably quite primitive. Additionally, I'm not aware of any modern work 
on the subject.

This same critique could equally be applied to my concept of the 
pottery, with its tempers of crushed rock and caixi spicules acting as a 
reservoir of nutrients that the "wee beasties" could quarry from the 
pottery and make available to plants.

It is all supposition that needs to be tested.

Kurt
who left your post uneditited because, for a change, it was short and to 
the point