[Terrapreta] The Reason for Pottery Shards in Terra, Preta.

[Kurt Treutlein]

Gary Rondeau wrote:
> I've always liked the "pottery as mulch" theory.  If you look at the 
> picture of the excavation here: 
> http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/Feb07_TerraPreta.pdf
> you will see that most of the sherds have little curvature, suggesting 
> to me that they were not made as "pots" but rather specifically for 
> another purpose.  I've also read that most of the sherds are unfired - 
> again suggesting a "low tech" requirement where the higher strength of 
> a fired object is not necessary.  If you consider the problems of weed 
> and moisture control, you can see the logic in laying sheets of 
> sun-baked clay around your seedlings.  But they break - get trampled 
> into the dirt - and there you have it!  The bigger pieces would get 
> used year after year.  I believe I ran across this hypothesis in some 
> of Charles Mann's writings.
Unfired pottery will return to being soft clay as soon as it gets wet 
and will not remain around as "shards" for very long. Sunbaking is not 
enough.

Kurt