[Terrapreta] The Reason for Pottery Shards in Terra Preta. Re: Char and compost ( was Char made made under pressurized conditions? )

[Greg and April]

I don't know that the pictures showing the pit the are from Bolivian flood plains - in deed, it's reported that they are of Terra Preta in the Amazon. 

Consider that in the show " The Secret of El Dorado ", they mark known Terra Preta sites ( in the Amazon ), along all the rivers, *** which do flood *** during the rainy season.
 
While this may be natural work of nature, I find it very interesting that in the show most ( if not all ) of the sites that they mark, are right along the river - in areas I presume to be most susceptible to flooding.

It would be very interesting ( and perhaps more than a little educational ), to see Terra Preta sites marked on a short scale topographic maps.    Such should give indication of terrain build up or not.

Greg H.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: lou gold 
  To: Greg and April 
  Cc: Terra Preta 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 18:40
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] The Reason for Pottery Shards in Terra Preta. Re: Char and compost ( was Char made made under pressurized conditions? )


  Greg,

  Do we know if the terra preta sites found in the central Amazon also reveal a layering of pottery and soil?  The need to build up mounds or islands was in the Bolivian flood plain. The layering architecture might have designed to prevent fast erosion -- a layer of waste covered by a layer of pottery.

  In the central Amazon sites I don't believe there would have been a need for "mounds." There's plenty of non-flooding "upland." If the layering is not found in this terrain, it would strongly suggest that it was "architectural", helping the building of stable mounds in the flood plain.

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