[Terrapreta] Beware The False Prophets of Terra Perta

[dyarrow at nycap.rr.com]

in the midst of the american revolution, a botanical and agricultural 
miracle was discovered by colonial soldiers -- one with implications 
for the current debate over terra preta in the amazon.

in 1779, general george washington sent four armies with 6200 soldiers 
to overrun and destroy the iroquois -- known to themselves 
as "haudenosaunee," or the six nations confederacy.  from 
pennsylvania, general sullivan led 4000 soldiers with rifles and 
cannon up the susquehanna river into the finger lakes.  colonel 
clinton (brother of NY governor george clinton) led another army from 
mohawk valley down chenango valley.  from the east, colonel van 
schaick led 550 men into the eastern finger lakes.  from the west, 
general brodhead led another force of 600 soldiers into alleghany and 
genesee valleys.  

these armies attacked the haudenosaunee.  never in haudenosaunee 
memory had they experienced such a massive invasion of their 
homelands.  and this attack was unexpected, since their confedracy was 
officially neutral in this "quarrel between the white brothers."  
caught by surprise, and unable to fight back against such large, well-
armed forces, the haudenosaunee abandoned their villages, leaving a 
few men to fight skirmishes to delay the invading armies.

following washington's orders, soldiers burned haudenosaunee villages, 
destroyed crops, cut down orchards, and scattered grainaries.  
this "search and destroy" campaign left the haudenosaunee homeless and 
without food.  many fled west, and took refuge under british 
protection at fort niagara.  they dug holes around the fort to live 
in.  the ensuing winter was the most severe in memory, and uncounted 
hundreds died of exposure and starvation, most of them elders and 
children.

i won't belabor the gross details and tragic ironies of this 
first "pre-emptive strike" in american history.  if you want more 
political and military perspectives, visit:
http://sullivanclinton.com
click on "maps."

my point here is this was the first time colonials saw the 
haudenosaunee heartland, and soldiers were astonished at extensive 
cultivated fields, vast areas of cultured fruit and nut trees, huge 
stores of corn.  it was also the first time euro-americans ate "sweet 
corn" -- unripened, immature corn.  the extent and scale of 
haudenosaunee settlements, with large landscapes managed for 
agricultural and agroforestry abundance was unexpected, unprecedented 
and much of it went undocumented.   some military leaders wrote 
accounts of what they saw, but all of it was destroyed in a single 
season of war.

anyone who thinks this is a fairy tale should read "1491," which 
recounts extensive historical evidence many other native american 
tribes practiced effective landscape management on massive scale.  the 
implication is that north america wasn't wilderness, but a very well-
managed landscape producing abundance for indigenous inhabitants.

this more accurate revision of north america's pre-columbian history, 
culture and civilization should give any terra preta skeptic reason to 
at least pause in their negativity and skepticism.  we could have 
learned a lot from those indigenous cultures, and it's not too late to 
start learning now -- but it may be too late soon, if global meltdown, 
species extinction and climate change continue at the current 
accelerating pace.

David Yarrow
"If yer not forest, yer against us."
Turtle EyeLand Sanctuary
44 Gilligan Road, East Greenbush, NY 12061
518-330-2587
dyarrow at nycap.rr.com
www.championtrees.org
www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org
www.citizenre.com/dyarrow/
www.SeaAgri.com
 
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, 
if one only remembers to turn on the light."  
-Albus Dumbledore

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Shengar at aol.com 
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2007 11:37 PM
Subject: [Terrapreta] Beware The False Prophets of Terra Perta

Beware The False Prophets of Terra Perta

It is quite worry some that development interest are seizing 
on "Artificial landscape" for justification of unsustainable 
practices, when the real lesson about TP culture is it's amazing 
Sustainability! 

They are using TP as a drunk uses a lamp post.............. for 
support rather than Illumination.

Erich

Bioenergy pact between Europe and Africa
http://biopact.com/2007/03/amazonian-population-theories-paleo.html

"Artificial or pristine landscape?

In the community of environmental archaeologists and paleo-ecologists, 
there are two distinct theories on pre-Columbian Amazonian 
populations. One commonly held vision says that the Amazon rainforest 
as it exists today is not 'pristine' at all, but basically 
an 'artificial landscape', created in ancient times by millions of 
people, who farmed, slashed-and-burned, logged and used the forests 
extensively and for centuries. According to the other camp, there is 
scant evidence for this hypothesis, and instead one can assume that 
the Amazon was sparsely populated, and only by small, primitive 
groups, whose impacts on the ecosystem have always been marginal."

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