[Terrapreta] Earthen Kiln Conjecture

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Max


MFH wrote:
> Kevin
>
> My question wasn't clear enough - it was related to the size of the charcoal
> pieces rather than the pottery chards.

I'm sorry... your question was clear, but I misread it.
>  If, for example, the average char
> piece is less than 2mm diameter, then a whole new labour dimension is added.
> How were chunks of charcoal reduced to 2mm pieces, by multiples of tonnes,
> in the absence of iron or steel.?
>   

That is an even more interesting question!! Char from wood would require 
breaking to get it to below 2 mm. On the other hand, vegetative material 
that decomposed anaerobically would tend to be weak enough that it would 
fall apart easily, or be easily broken with handling or working of the 
soil.
> Some may disagree, but I think its important to try and determine how the
> char was produced, broken up and distributed, in the substantial volumes and
> over the substantial areas that are now evident. In general, women
> contribute most of the labour in subsistence agriculture communities,
> including the majority of the work in planting, tending and harvesting of
> crops. Add this to their other motherhood and home tasks and the puzzle
> intensifies as to where the labour came from to produce and distribute such
> great quantities of char. Labour costs are likely to be a seriously limiting
> factor in producing large quantities of char today.
>   

I think this is a good thought to pursue. It could lead to insights into 
teh production of Anthropogenic Terra Preta.
> What can we learn from the Amazonians? It would be foolish to cast their
> techniques aside because "after all they were primitive peoples living a
> subsistence life".

They may have been primitive, but they certainly weren't stupid. Their 
very survival depended on their observation skills, cleverness  and 
practicality.

Best wishes,

Kevin
>  I'm reminded that the Chinese and Indians produced carbon
> steel some 2000 years before the Europeans learnt how. Being able to
> economically produce millions of tonnes of char tomorrow will be a lot more
> beneficial to the planet and mankind than developing a new iPod that stores
> 657,283 noise files.
>
> Max H
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Chisholm [mailto:kchisholm at ca.inter.net] 
> Sent: Thursday, 17 April 2008 9:15 AM
> To: MFH
> Cc: 'Robert Klein'; 'terra pretta group'
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Earthen Kiln Conjecture
>
> Dear Max
>
> Good questions!! I don't have such information.
>
> One thing that would be very interesting also would be to learn if 
> anyone has actually re-assembled a pot/container from the shards found 
> on the TP sites. If sufficient related shards have not been found to 
> re-assemble a pottery piece, is there enough information about pottery 
> shard shape to infer that it came from a bowl, a pot, a urn, a roof 
> tile, etc?
>
> One could probably infer from the average size if the shards were 
> "accidentally broken, or purposely broken".
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kevin
>
> MFH wrote:
>   
>> Kevin
>>
>> Do you (or anyone else) have any data on:
>>
>> a) the average size of the char pieces in the TP soil in the Amazon
>> b) the largest piece recorded to date, and
>> c) the smallest
>>
>> Thanks, Max H
>>
>>