Learning from the Past: Cinder Mulch Agriculture Past and Present

Summary

Cinder mulch agriculture has been studied in relation to the archaeology of the Flagstaff, Arizona, area since Colton in the 1930s, with several experimental studies assessing the agricultural benefits of this method. Recently, local gardeners in the Flagstaff area have begun experimenting with using cinder mulch on their own gardens. This provides an opportunity for public outreach and for archaeologists and the local gardening community to learn from each other, with gardeners gaining the benefits of the archaeological studies of this and other agricultural methods and archaeologists potentially reaching a new and very engaged audience interested in understanding agricultural techniques adapted to the local environment, as well as gaining some qualitative information on the opinions of experienced gardeners. Cinder mulching has recently been implemented as a water conservation method at the Bonito Street Community Garden in Flagstaff, which has provided an opportunity to educate the public on the archaeology of their local area, as well as illustrating its relevance to the present.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage