Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Week 04 Lecture 01 Native American Forestry Management and Agricultural Technology

Weatherford chapter 5 Pages 75—98 Second edition pages 102–127

Last Updated 16 November 2013 and Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 1 04 Sept, 2019 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native American Forestry Management and Agricultural Technology The learning objectives for week 04 are:

– to understand the nature of North American Indian agro- forestry – to appreciate how modern science is making use of Native American farming practices – to appreciate how modern science is making use of Native American land management practices – to understand and appreciate some of the most important medical contributions of Native Americans to the world (Week 04 lecture 02) Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 2 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native American Forestry Management and Agricultural Technology Terms you should know for week 04 are: – back fire – conuco – polyculture – the three sisters – quinine – curare – ipecac Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 3 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World: Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native American Forestry Management and Agricultural Technology Week 04 Sources:

Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang. Where the Europeans saw a wilderness with savages, modern ecological studies find a managed environment. Densmore, Frances. 1974 [orig. 1928]. How the Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts. New York: Dover Publications. Jacke, Dave with Eric Toensmeier. 2005 Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture.Volume I: Vision and Theory. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Esp. page 174 _____. 2005 Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture.Volume II: Design and Practice. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Esp. pages 531-34 Mt. Pleasant, Jane. 2001. The Three Sisters: Care for the Land and the People. In James, Keith, ed. Science and Native American Communities: Legacies of Pain, Visions of Promise. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Pp. 126–34;

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 4 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World: Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native American Forestry Management and Agricultural Technology Sources (contd):

Thornton, Russell. 1987. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Surveys the various estimates of the native population of the New World at the time of European contact. The population figures play an important role in the debate over the extent of Indian forest management described in the Michael Williams book below. Weatherford, Jack. 1991. Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America. New York: Fawcett Columbine. More details on the topics first taken up in Indian Givers. Williams, Michael. 1988. Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2 -- "The forest and the Indian" -- pages 22-49 -- describes the many ways Native Americans managed the forests of North America. Surprises galore await the reader of this text. Wolkomir, Richard. 1995. Bringing ancient ways to our farmers' fields. Smithsonian 26(8):99-107. November 1995. Describes the work of Iroquois agronomist Jane Mt. Pleasant of Cornell University who is studying the environmental and agricultural output consequences of the Iroquois "three sisters" system of corn, beans and squash that preserve soil fertility.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 5 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native Americans Among the World’s Greatest – Plant breeders – Biodiversity protectors – Agricultural technologists – Environmental managers – including advanced forms of agroforestry and other land management techniques

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 6 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Modern Scientists Have Discovered That… – Plants require 18 essential elements to live – Most from the soil – Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from air and water – Nitrogen most difficult to get from air – …

Week 04 Native American 7 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Nitrogen thus a crucial “limiting factor” in plant growth – Modern agriculture gets from oil and natural gas see the Haber-Bosch process described later in this lecture – Expensive and amount is ultimately limited by fossil fuel availability – Easy to over-fertilize…excess can run off into local water systems and poison humans – this “reactive nitrogen” a major problem today

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 8 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Nitrogen thus a crucial “limiting factor” in plant growth Native Americans solved the problem by planting “nitrogen accumulators” near their food plants – Black locust, mahogany, bayberry trees – New Jersey tea shrub – Peanuts and related plants – Vetch and bean plants; also most acacias Sources: Jacke, Dave with Eric Toensmeier. 2005 Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture.Volume I: Vision and Theory. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Esp. page 174 _____. 2005 Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture.Volume II: Design and Practice. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Esp. pages 531-34

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 9 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Other plants used to “accumulate” or “fix” – Phosphorus – may be facing a world shortage, see later slides – Potassium – Calcium

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 10 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke Fertilizers • Native Americans understood value of animal dung for plants • Used seaweed and… • Guano – the giant bird droppings fields in Peru • Inca had regulated the guano supply • Peruvian guano helped England overcome soil fertility decline

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 11 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Vanilla • Native Americans taught Europeans how to grow • Also how to cure by aging 4 – 5 months to release flavor • Fertilized and tended by hand

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 12 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Other Native American Farming Technology Achievements…

Week 04 Native American 13 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Milpas • Plant crops on mounds rather than in rows • Leads to less erosion • May be a way to preserve soil in modern agriculture • Peruvian potato mounds shown in The Columbian Exchange a sophisticated version of the milpa

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 14 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Chinampas • “Floating gardens” of Aztecs • Did not float • Artificial islands built up on lakes • Very rich soil; high output

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 15 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 16 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

• Chinampas were food base for the Aztec empire • Among the most productive farming land ever created

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 17 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Conuco • Use root or sprout cuttings to develop genetically desirable traits • Cassava, sweet potato and pineapple all created this way

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 18 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Polyculture • Mix various plants on same field instead of row planting • Makes natural barrier against pests and diseases • Preserves long-term biodiversity and soil structure • See Iroquois three sisters example later in the

slides Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 19 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Mixed Farming and Polyculture: North American Forest Management Before the Europeans

Week 04 Native American 20 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Recent Research Shows Native Americans Practiced Sophisticated Forest Management Techniques Before the Europeans

Week 04 Native American 21 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Native American Agro-forestry

1. Most Europeans saw North America as a wilderness inhabited by uncivilized “savages.”

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 22 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

2. Later researchers – following the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber – estimated the pre-colonial population of North America at about 1 million persons.

Week 04 Native American 23 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

3. In the past 20 years an entirely new understanding of the aboriginal conditions of North America has emerged.

Week 04 Native American 24 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

4. Two basic points are now widely accepted:

4.2 The pristine forests of NA were actually managed ecosystems. 4.1 The population of NA was at least 9 million and could have been 18 million.

Week 04 Native American 25 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

5. The total population of the Western Hemisphere, in fact, may have been greater than that of Western Europe.

Week 04 Native American 26 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

6. If point 5 is true, why were such low population estimates made for 500 years?

Week 04 Native American 27 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

7. Historical demographer (population studies) Henry Dobyns combed thru hundreds of accounts of diseases and epidemics that struck the Native American population on contact with Europeans after 1491.

Week 04 Native American 28 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

8. He found 41 major smallpox epidemics from 1520 to 1899.

Week 04 Native American 29 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

9. 15 major measles outbreaks, 10 recorded influenza epidemics, and incidents of bubonic plague, diphtheria, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, and other diseases not easily identifiable from the account.

Week 04 Native American 30 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

9.1 The disease counts and other information only make sense if the native population had been many times larger than 1 million.

Week 04 Native American 31 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

10. The relative genetic isolation of Native Americans from the Old World diseases had rendered them uniquely vulnerable to European and African pathogens.

Week 04 Native American 32 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

Even Dobyns’ strongest critics now agree that the population of North America was probably around 7 million

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 33 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

11. Epidemics played a major role in the European conquest of Native Americans.

Week 04 Native American 34 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

12. The horrible death toll Dobyns retrieved from the historical record has the scientific effect of recasting our estimates of the 1491 population of North America.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 35 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

13. Higher population estimates lead to many changes in our understanding of Indian life prior to the introduction of Old World diseases.

Week 04 Native American 36 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

14. In Eastern North America the native peoples lived in villages surrounded by fields on which they grew a great variety of crops.

Week 04 Native American 37 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

15. We discussed these crops in a previous class and they are described in Weatherford’s chapters 4, 5 and 6 and in the video “The Columbian Exchange.” The video is #2324 Part 6 in Sprague Library See also the book → Crosby, Alfred W. Jr. 1972. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Monday, February 22, 2010 Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 38 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

16. To grow these crops the Indians used a “managed ecosystem” approach.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 39 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

17. Partial clearings were hacked out of the forest and fire would burn off the underbrush.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 40 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

18. Areas around the village would be in various stages of regrowth – a process ecologists call environmental successions.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 41 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

18a. Environmental succession: a process by which plant communities move from grassland to forest climax… …in which they… – accumulate biomass; and – soil nutrients move from mineral form to organic matter

Week 04 Native American 42 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

19. A European visitor painted the Indian village of Secota, Virginia in 1585

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 43 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

20. Much of the right side of the painting shows corn in various stages of growth.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 44 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

21. To the left of the corn next to the pathway one can see pumpkins

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 45 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

22. By using fire and other devices to maintain environmental successions, the peoples of the NA Eastern Woodlands maximized output of grains, seeds, nuts, and berries; and attracted deer and other game to the edges of their villages.

Week 04 Native American 46 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

23. By NOT opening up large monocrop cleared areas, however, they allowed the forest successions to maintain species diversity (also called “biodiversity”).

Week 04 Native American 47 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

24. By not disturbing the forests too much, the Native Americans maintained the root connections among various plants, allowing them to exchange nutrients.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 48 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke 25. Modern plant biologists have recently discovered the importance of mycorrhizae (fungus roots) that link forest plants together into a single healthy ecosystem.

Source: Jacke, Dave, with Eric Toensmeier. 2005. Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture. Volume One: Vision and Theory. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Pages 11−12; Capra, Fritjof. 1996. The Web of Life. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. Page 253. (Sources added: Sunday, September 23, 2012).

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 49 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

26. The fires may also have stimulated the growth of mycorrhiza and the fires also were sometimes used to drive game into traps.

Week 04 Native American 50 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

27. Fires also stimulated the growth of berry bushes, an important food source.

Week 04 Native American 51 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

28. Native Americans invented the “back fire,” a fire used to burn off the path of an oncoming uncontrolled natural fire. Backfires are still used in modern forest fire fighting today.

Week 04 Native American 52 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

29. Recent archaeological and historical research suggests that groups such as the Iroquois moved their villages about once in 20 years to adjust to the various forest successions. Some villages may have been permanent.

Week 04 Native American 53 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

30. Most of the meadows and parklike forest areas described by colonists were almost certainly the products of Indian ecological management.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 54 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

31. It now appears likely that even much of the prairie with its pure grass stands – an unnatural environment – was a product of Indian ecological management thru the use of fire.

Week 04 Native American 55 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

32. Far from being a pristine wild and natural environment, it now appears that the North American continent was largely what ecologists would call a “human induced fire based subclimax.”

Week 04 Native American 56 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

33. The predominance of pine trees in many NA forests is itself evidence of human eco- management – pine trees are part of an ecological succession.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 57 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

34. Native American eco- management practices are now influencing the theory and practice of sustainable farming.

Also goes by the name “permaculture”

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 58 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

35. Some Sources: Cronon, William. 1983. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang. Dobyns, Henry F. 1983. Their Numbers Became Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. Jacke, Dave, with Eric Toensmeier. 2005. Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture. Volume One: Vision and Theory. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Thornton, Russell. 1987. American Indian Holocaust and Survival. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Williams, Michael. 1988. Americans and Their Forests: A Historical Geography, esp. pp. 22–49.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 59 Permaculture: consciously designed landscapes which mimic Sometimes also called the patterns and relationships in nature “biomimicry” while yielding an abundance of food, fiber but actually involves [and other products?] much more than for human needs. that… David Holmgren

Monday, February 22, 2010 Richard W. Franke Part 02 Slide 60 Ecovillage Ithaca: Laboratory for Sustainability?

Much remains to be learned about permaculture’s possibilities, especially the potential of edible landscapes.

Find out more about permaculture at:

https://fingerlakespermaculture.org/what-is- permaculture/

18 September 2008 Richard W. Franke Part 02 Slide 61 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Native American Agriculture: Iroquois “Three Sisters” Farming

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 62 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The best known example of Native American agricultural sophistication comes from the three sisters system of the Iroquois

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 63 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Iroquois are Mostly Famous in U.S. History for the League of the Iroquois

– Founded by Hiawatha and Deganwidah between AD 1000 and AD 1450, under a constitution called the "Great Law of Peace" – The League of the Iroquois united 5 Indian nations:

64 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

League of the Iroquois

– Mohawk: People Possessors of the Flint – Onondaga: People on the Hills – Seneca: Great Hill People – Oneida: Granite People – Cayuga: People at the Mucky Land

65 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

League of the Iroquois

Source: Grinde, Donald A. Jr. 1977. The Iroquois and the Founding of the American Nation. San Francisco: The Indian Historian Press. Page 18.

66 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

37. Early European explorers were astounded at the large amounts of corn stored up in Iroquois villages.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 67 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

In 1535 Jacques Cartier, and later Henry Hudson, noted large granaries filled with corn.

Week 04 Native American 68 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

In 1779 Continental Army general John Sullivan reported destroying 6,000 bushels in the village of Genesee New York and 160,000 bushels along the East Side of Seneca Lake and surrounding areas. Lewandowski 1987:78

Week 04 Native American 69 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Iroquois agriculture was based on the “three sisters:” corn, beans, and squash.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 70 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The three sisters are also part of the origin stories of the Iroquois and other Northeast North American groups.

Week 04 Native American 71 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The Iroquois farmed without the plow and without commercial fertilizers – such as today’s petroleum based ammonia to fix nitrogen.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 72 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Instead the women planted a few corn seeds at a time in holes set about 3 ft apart.

Modern agricultural scientists now recommend 5 ft between the corn plantings.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 73 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

When the corn sprouted they weeded and mounded up the soil around the stalks.

Week 04 Native American 74 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The mounds exposed the soil to the air, helping it warm up in the spring; and helped drain the soil.

Week 04 Native American 75 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters Two weeks later the women planted beans next to the corn and then squash between the mounds.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 76 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The “3 sisters” were now ready to help each other: – The corn provides a pole for the beans to climb on.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 77 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The big squash leaves reduce weeds and help retain soil moisture.

They are thus a natural self- generating mulch.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 78 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The beans change atmospheric nitrogen into a form it can be absorbed (“fixed”) in the soil – an important nutrient for the corn. They function as a substitute for the high-tech Haber-Bosch system to be described soon. Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 79 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The mounds prevent soil erosion and help recycle the nutrients, especially when the plant residues at harvest time are thrown back on the mounds.

Weeding is made easier by moving from mound to mound. Wolkomir 1995; Hart 2008:87-88

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 80 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The Seneca, one of the Iroquois nations, are known to have used at least one organic- biological pest control: seeds were soaked in Hellebore (Veratum album or “false Hellebore”) extract. This made the plant repellent to birds and other pests.

Lewandowski 1987:82

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 81 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

It is not clear whether Native American biological pest control devices have been tested by modern scientists.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 82 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The Three Sisters system in the Finger Lakes region of New York state where many of the Iroquois lived is at least 650 years old.

Hart, J. P. 2008. Evolving the Three Sisters: The Changing Histories of Maize, Bean, and Squash in New York and the Greater Northeast. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany II. New York State Museum Bulletin 512, edited by J. P. Hart, p. 90. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York.

Lewandowski, Stephen. 1987. Diohe’ko, The Three Sisters in Seneca Life: Implications for a Native Agriculture in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Agriculture and Human Values 4(2-3): 77.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 83 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The Three Sisters system, however, could be 6,000 years old, based on findings in Mexico that corn and beans were being planted together in the same fields at that time.

Lewandowski 1987:78

Week 04 Native American 84 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The system may have thus migrated up through North America before being adopted by most of the Northeast woodlands groups from modern Ohio to New England.

Hart 2008

Week 04 Native American 85 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The unique contribution of the Native Americans in the Finger Lakes area then would have been to adapt and adjust the system to the area by choosing and/or selecting appropriate varieties of each crop.

Week 04 Native American 86 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The Iroquois are known from the research of the famous American ethnologist Lewis Henry Morgan in 1850 to have cultivated at least 3 types of corn. More recent studies show they knew of at least 5 types: soft, flint, sweet, pop and pod.

Lewandowski 1987:89

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The Three Sisters

As well as at least 60 varieties of beans.

Lewandowski1987:89

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 88 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

And many types of squash including bottle gourds used for containers, utensils and rattles as s well as several types of pumpkins.

Lewandowski 1987:89-90.

Week 04 Native American 89 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The 3 sisters together provide a fairly balanced diet of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and the full complement of amino acids for proteins. Hart 2008:88; Mt Pleasant 2001 and 2006

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The Three Sisters

Corn is low in the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, but beans, it turns out, have ample amounts of those two essential protein builders Lewandowski 1987:84 Corn has a 9.2% overall protein content, compared with 8% for brown rice and 7% for white rice.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 91 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The Seneca made corn into hominy by soaking it in wood ash – this made it easier for humans to absorb the niacin and some other nutrients – in other words, it made the corn healthier to eat – corn is the grain weakest in niacin. Lewandowski 1987:84

Week 04 Native American 92 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The manufacture of hominy is probably an ancient Native American craft, known from Mexico (as nixtamal) and throughout much of North America.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 93 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

The Huron, whose diet was probably similar to the Iroquois, and whose diet was studied in some detail, ate 65% corn, 15% beans- squash-pumpkins 10—15% fish and 5% meat.

They ate 1.3 pounds of corn per person per day.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology Lewandowski 1987:8494 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke The Three Sisters

The Seneca ate in addition: succotash*, cornbread with fruit or beans, hominy soups and stews, maple syrup, and berries.

Lewandowski 1987:84

*Succotash comes from the Narragansett language, an Algonquian language like that spoken by the Iroquois. It means “boiled corn kernels.”

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 95 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters The rising cost of petroleum and natural gas- based nitrogen fertilizer makes the Iroquois approach appealing – and the threat of a worldwide phosphorous shortage adds to the comparative advantage of the three sisters approach.

Source on the looming phosphorous shortage: Bates, Albert and Toby Hemenway. 2010. From Agriculture to Permaculture. In State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures – From Consumerism to Sustainability. Washington, D.C. The Worldwatch Institute and New York: W. W. Norton. Page 50.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 96 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Using the natural fertilizers in the soil and returning them at harvest time makes the farming more “sustainable,” a goal now widely accepted in environmental and policy circles.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 97 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Sustainable farming may be even more crucial than the slide above suggests – because other problems also loom in the near future

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 98 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

In 1909 German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch invented a way to turn atmospheric nitrogen into a form that could be applied as liquid or pellets on agricultural fields. Haber ↓ Bosch

Many scientists consider the Haber-Bosch process to be among the most important discoveries of the 20th Century Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 99 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke Some observers claim that up to 40% of all One-half of all nitrogen humans alive today exist fertilizer used today is made only because of Haber- from the Haber-Bosch process Bosch – the other half consists of https://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/haberbosch.html https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-haber-bosch- natural crop and animal wastes process.htm

Haber-Bosch today generates more than 500 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer while utilizing 1% of the world’s total energy budget – mostly natural gas burned in the chemical alteration process

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 100 Montclair State University General Education Program Gened 303 Globalization and Sustainability Profs. Richard W. Franke and Barbara H. Chasin

The Earth’s atmosphere near the surface (up to about 18 km or 11 mi) has lots of nitrogen: 78% and 21% oxygen.

Sunday, February 21, 2010 101 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

But Haber-Bosch has two limiting factors: oil →

If energy descent theory is correct, Haber-Bosch will be difficult to sustain →and along with it the food production that depends on it

It requires tremendous amounts of heat and that currently means burning large amounts of fossil fuels, mainly petroleum and/or natural gas.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 102 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke 2013 Update: Haber-Bosch Today

The October 21, 2013 New Yorker Magazine contains a book review essay by Elizabeth Kolbert that includes an interesting discussion of some of the current debates on population growth and world environmental problems that she connects with the Haber-Bosch discoveries.

To access the article, click here.

This slide was added 16 November 2013 Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 103 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke The Three Sisters

A second problem with Haber-Bosch results from its very success: we now have too much nitrogen in the soils and fresh waterways of earth. When nitrogen is a gas in the atmosphere, it is considered “non- reactive.” In soil, rivers and lakes, however, the nitrogen reacts with other chemicals – too much nitrogen causes all kinds of harmful side effects

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 104 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke The Three Sisters

The 2005 Millennium Ecological Assessment considered reactive nitrogen one of the most serious environmental threats to the entire earth’s life support system.

Consider a few of their findings as described in the next few slides…taken from their report – all basically a consequence of Haber-Bosch

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 105 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Findings

Slides taken from the Millennium Assessment Report Largest assessment of the health of Earth’s ecosystems

Experts and Review Process ▪ Prepared by 1360 experts from 95 countries ▪ 80-person independent board of review editors ▪ Review comments from 850 experts and governments ▪ Includes information from 33 sub-global assessments Governance ▪ Called for by UN Secretary General in 2000 ▪ Authorized by governments through 4 conventions ▪ Partnership of UN agencies, conventions, business, non- governmental organizations with a multi-stakeholder board of directors Changes in direct drivers: Nutrient loading

▪ Humans have already doubled the flow of reactive nitrogen on the continents, and some projections suggest that this may increase by roughly a further two thirds by 2050

Estimated Total Reactive Nitrogen Deposition from the Atmosphere Accounts for 12% of the reactive nitrogen entering ecosystems, although it is higher in some regions (e.g., 33% in the United States) Changes in direct drivers Impacts of Excessive Nitrogen Flows

Environmental effects: Resulting health effects: ▪ eutrophication of freshwater ▪ consequences of ozone and coastal ecosystems pollution on asthma and ▪ contribution to acid rain respiratory function ▪ loss of biodiversity ▪ increased allergies and asthma due to increased pollen Contribution to: production ▪ creation of ground-level ozone ▪ risk of blue-baby syndrome ▪ destruction of ozone in the ▪ increased risk of cancer and stratosphere other chronic diseases from nitrate in drinking water, ▪ contribution to global warming ▪ increased risk of a variety of pulmonary and cardiac diseases from production of fine particles in the atmosphere Teragrams of Nitrogen per Year 300

250

200

Natural Sources Total Human 150 Additions

Fertilizer 100

50 Agroecosystems Fossil Fuels 0 1875 1925 1975 2025

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke The Three Sisters

Here are the notes from the previous slide: From: MA Synthesis Figure 14. Global Trends in the Creation of Reactive Nitrogen on Earth by Human Activity, with Projection to 2050 (R9 Fig 9.1) Most of the reactive nitrogen produced by humans comes from manufacturing nitrogen for synthetic fertilizer and industrial use. Reactive nitrogen is also created as a by-product of fossil fuel combustion and by some (nitrogen-fixing) crops and trees in agroecosystems. The range of the natural rate of bacterial nitrogen fixation in natural terrestrial ecosystems (excluding fixation in agroecosystems) is shown for comparison.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 111 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke The Three Sisters

Notes continued…

Human activity now produces approximately as much reactive nitrogen as natural processes do on the continents. (Note: The 2050 projection is included in the original study and is not based on MA Scenarios.)

MA Synthesis SDM: “Since 1960, flows of reactive (biologically available) nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems have doubled, and flows of phosphorus have tripled. More than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, which was first manufactured in 1913, ever used on the planet has been used since 1985.”

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 112 Percent Increase in Nitrogen Flows in Rivers

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Some results of excessive reactive nitrogen: eutrophication Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

Source: NOAA The World’s 405 Dead Zones as of 2008; up from 49 in the 1960s

Source: Biello, David. 2008. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=oceanic-dead-zones-spread This is no small economic matter. A single low-oxygen event (known scientifically as hypoxia) off the coasts of New York State and New Jersey in 1976 covering a mere 385 square miles (1,000 square kilometers) of seabed ended up costing commercial and recreational fisheries in the region more than $500 million. As it stands, roughly 83,000 tons (75,000 metric tons) of fish and other ocean life are lost to the Chesapeake Bay dead zone each year—enough to feed half the commercial crab catch for a year.

Source: Biello, David. 2008. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=oceanic-dead-zones-spread Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters 57. The 3 sisters are thus part of a new farming movement called “permaculture” that began in Australia in the 1970s and is now taught at many major US agriculture schools.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 118 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters 58. A key element of permaculture is that food production fields should “mimic” natural environments to the greatest extent possible.

Week 04 Native American 119 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters 59. Iroquois 3 sister intercropping is not like big US corporate farms where a single crop is grown over a large area

Week 04 Native American Farming 120 Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters

Large monocrop farms offer short term labor efficiency advantages but in the long run are more vulnerable to disease, infestation, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility

Week 04 Native American 121 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Ant 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World The Three Dr. Richard W. Franke Sisters

By contrast, the 3 sisters system promotes biodiversity – now recognized as a key element in both organic pest resistance and in long term sustainability.

Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 122 Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters Sources on The Three Sisters:

Hart, J. P. 2008. Evolving the Three Sisters: The Changing Histories of Maize, Bean, and Squash in New York and the Greater Northeast. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany II. New York State Museum Bulletin 512, edited by J. P. Hart, pp. 87-99. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York;

Lewandowski, Stephen. 1987. Diohe’ko, The Three Sisters in Seneca Life: Implications for a Native Agriculture in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Agriculture and Human Values 4(2-3): 76-93.

Week 04 Native American 123 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

The Three Sisters Sources on The Three Sisters: Mt. Pleasant, Jane. 2001. The Three Sisters: Care for the Land and the People. In James, Keith, ed. Science and Native American Communities: Legacies of Pain, Visions of Promise. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Pp. 126– 34; Mt. Pleasant, J. 2006. The Science Behind the Three Sisters Mound System: An Agronomic Assessment of an Indigenous Agricultural System in the Northeast. In Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolutionof Maize, edited by J. Staller, R. Tykot, and B. Benz, pp. 529–538. Academic Press, Burlington, Massachusetts Wolkomir, Richard. 1995. Bringing ancient ways to our farmers’ fields. Smithsonian 26(8):99–107. November 1995.

Week 04 Native American 124 Farming Technology Montclair State University Department of Anthropology Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World Dr. Richard W. Franke

End of Slides on Native American Agricultural Technology

Weatherford chapter 5

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