Putting Ancient Agriculture Back to Work
نویسنده
چکیده
he remains of an extensive ancient agricultural system built and used by Andean peoples centuries ago are found throughout the vast high plain surrounding Lake Titicaca in the Andean countries of Peru and Bolivia (Figs. 1, 2). Raised fields are large elevated planting platforms which provided drainage, improved soil conditions, and improved temperatures for crops, The remains of prehistoric raised fields, elaborate sunken gardens, and agricultural terraces cover tens of thousands of hectares in the region, and provide evidence of the impressive engineering abilities of the peoples who lived there in pre-Columbian times. Our recent invest igat ions of raised field agriculture demonstrate not only the technological expertise of the past cultures, but also that these systems could be re-used today to make high altitude lands more productive. In a region such as the Andes, where conditions of soil and climate greatly limit agricultural potential , technological methods to augment productivity have been increasingly necessary to support the growing populations of Quechua and Aymara farmers who live there today. The reuse of raised fields may be an economical and ecologically sound alternative to agricultural development based on expensive imported technology. Until recently, very little was known about the origins and evolution of raised field technology in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Observant Spanish chroniclers in the 16th fields had probably been abancentury described many aspects of doned before t h e arrival o f t h e the indigenous agriculture, such as Spanish. Questions such as who terraces and irrigation canals, but constructed the fields, when were they did not mention raised fields. they built , what crops were culThis omission suggests that raised tivated, why the fields varied so
منابع مشابه
Raised Field Agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin: Putting Ancient Agriculture Back to Work
متن کامل
Compost: Production, Quality, and Use in Commercial Agriculture
Introduction Compost is a soil amendment produced through the metabolism of an organic substrate—a surface on which organisms grow—by aerobic (oxygen-requiring) microbes under controlled conditions. Composting is an ancient agricultural technology going back to biblical times that still has important applications in modern agriculture. Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in compost ...
متن کاملThermoluminescence dating analysis at the site of an ancient brick structure at Pengkalan Bujang, Malaysia.
Bujang Valley is a well-known historical complex found in the north-west of peninsular Malaysia; more than 50 ancient monuments and hundreds of artefacts have been discovered throughout the area. The discovery of these suggests Bujang Valley to have been an important South East Asian trading centre over the period from the 10th to 14th centuries. Present work concerns thermoluminescence (TL) da...
متن کاملSewage Farming in Madras and the Suitability of the System for India
matters of ancient history. For my present purpose sanitation may be said to have commenced in the latter half of the century. In 1857 the Royal Sewage Commissioners laid it down as an axiom that " the right way to dispose of town sewage is to apply it continuously to land." However, considerable difficulties were experienced in putting the principle into practice. The heavy soils found in most...
متن کاملAncient Irrigation Canals Mapped from Corona Imageries and Their Implications in Juyan Oasis along the Silk Road
Historical records and archaeological discoveries have shown that prosperous agricultural activities developed in the ancient Juyan Oasis of northwestern China, an important oasis that once flourished on the ancient Silk Road. However, how the irrigation canals were distributed in historical time was unknown. Here, we identified and mapped the spatial distribution of ancient abandoned irrigatio...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2000