The Incas may have created the biggest empire in the Americas and built Machu Picchu, among other wonders, thanks to a previously overlooked ingredient: llama dung.The reason llamas were so helpful? They all crap in the same place, so it was easy to collect. This story is just one more reminder of how agriculture was the building block of every society in the world. The links also include a story on the connection between high finance and sex, which includes a bit of New York sex trade history.
Manure from llama herds provided fertiliser which enabled corn to be cultivated at very high altitudes, allowing the Inca civilisation to flourish in the Andes and conquer much of South America, according to research.
The "extraordinary plant-breeding event" about 2,700 years ago transformed the region's political economy and enabled the Incas to emerge centuries later, said Alex Chepstow-Lusty, of the French Institute of Andean Studies in Lima.
"This widespread shift to agriculture and societal development was only possible with an extra ingredient – organic fertilisers on a vast scale." The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Antiquity, found corn pollen in the mud of Marcacocha lake, near Ollantayambo, showing the cereal could be grown at least 3,350m above sea level.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Naked Capitalism Link of the Day
Today's link at naked capitalism: Dung loaming: how llamas aided the Inca empire, at the Guardian:
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Once upon a time, when farmers were numerous and politicians had to at least say something nice about them to get elected, the idea that agriculture is the foundation of civilization was commonly known and universally accepted as true--mostly because there is so much evidence to support this argument.
ReplyDeleteSo it does my heart good to read this post. It reminds me of those saner days when folks who spoke about economic and cultural issues were required to praise the most important members of the Producer Classes.
Keep it up, my good man!
Thanks. I do have to say that back when farmers were more numerous, they did a lot more physical labor than farmers like I do today. We have also been able to accumulate significant capital, which was always the main political issue for farmers in the past. That is what kept them on the populist/progressive side of the fence for so long.
ReplyDeleteI think it is pretty clear that a steady food supply was necessary to allow other trades to develop, which also led to larger populations and actual villages and towns. That is important for everyone to keep in mind today.