A History of Knowledge of the Amazonian Dark Earths

Summary

The anthropogenic origin of the Amazonian dark earths (Terra Pretas) has been a methodologically assured fact for 70 years. Especially during the last 30 years, Terra Preta have been scientifically investigated with increasing intensity and in an ever-widening context. Currently, the dominant concept guiding research is the idea of binding atmospheric carbon which artificially produced dark earths. The large-scale production of terra preta is said to be an efficient instrument to combat global warming. This talk attempts to present a history of the knowledge on Amazonian dark earths (terras pretas) focusing not only on scientific knowledge but also takes into account traditional indigenous knowledge. At the end,I show, that without indigenous knowledge, modern terra preta research would not exist. This has bearings for ethical evaluation of applied modern terra preta research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18735