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
Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 1Last Updated 16 November 2013 and
04 Sept, 2019
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
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
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
Terms you should know for week 04 are:
– back fire
– conuco
– polyculture
– the three sisters
– quinine
– curare
– ipecacWeek 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
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
5
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
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
Farming Technology
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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 acaciasSources: 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
Farming Technology
13
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
Farming Technology
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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
Farming Technology
21
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
Farming Technology
23
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
Farming Technology
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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
Farming Technology
25
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
Farming Technology
26
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
Farming Technology
27
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
Farming Technology
28
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
Farming Technology
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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
Farming Technology
30
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
Farming Technology
31
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
Farming Technology
32
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
Farming Technology
34
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
Farming Technology
36
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
Farming Technology
37
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
Farming Technology
42
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
Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 44
20. Much of the right side
of the painting shows corn
in various stages of growth.
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
Farming Technology
46
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
Farming Technology
47
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
Farming Technology
50
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
Farming Technology
51
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
Farming Technology
52
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
Farming Technology
53
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
Farming Technology
55
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
Farming Technology
56
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
Monday, February 22, 2010 Richard W. Franke Part 02 Slide 60
Permaculture:
consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships in nature while yielding an abundance of food, fiber [and other products?] for human needs.
David Holmgren
Sometimes also called
“biomimicry”but actually involves much more than that…
18 September 2008 Richard W. Franke Part 02 Slide 61
Ecovillage Ithaca: Laboratory for Sustainability?
Much remains to be learned about permaculture’spossibilities, especially the potential of edible landscapes.
Find out more about permaculture at:
https://fingerlakespermaculture.org/what-is-
permaculture/
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
64
Montclair State University Department of AnthropologyAnth 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:
65
Montclair State University Department of AnthropologyAnth 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
66
Montclair State University Department of AnthropologyAnth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western WorldDr. 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.
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
Farming Technology
68
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
Farming Technology
69
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
Farming Technology
71
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
Farming Technology
74
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
Farming Technology
75
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
Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 82
The Three Sisters
It is not clear whether Native
American biological pest
control devices have been tested by
modern scientists.
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
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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
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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
Farming Technology
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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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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. Franke
The Three Sisters
As well as at least 60 varieties of beans.
Lewandowski1987:89
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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.
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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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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. Franke
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.
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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
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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 93
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.
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.
Lewandowski 1987:84Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 94
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.”
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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.
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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.
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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
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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. Franke
Bosch
Many scientists consider the Haber-Bosch process to be among the most important discoveries of the 20th Century
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 ↓
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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. Franke
One-half of all nitrogen fertilizer used today is made from the Haber-Bosch process – the other half consists of natural crop and animal wastes
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
Some observers claim
that up to 40% of all
humans alive today exist
only because of Haber-
Boschhttps://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/haberbosch.html
https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-haber-bosch-
process.htm
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Sunday, February 21, 2010 101
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.
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.
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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.
Week 04 Native American Farming Technology 103This slide was added 16 November 2013
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
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 driversImpacts of Excessive Nitrogen Flows
Environmental effects:
▪ eutrophication of freshwater and coastal ecosystems
▪ contribution to acid rain
▪ loss of biodiversity
Contribution to:
▪ creation of ground-level ozone
▪ destruction of ozone in the stratosphere
▪ contribution to global warming
Resulting health effects:
▪ consequences of ozone pollution on asthma and respiratory function
▪ increased allergies and asthma due to increased pollen production
▪ risk of blue-baby syndrome
▪ increased risk of cancer and other chronic diseases from nitrate in drinking water,
▪ increased risk of a variety of pulmonary and cardiac diseases from production of fine particles in the atmosphere
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1875 1925 1975 2025
Fossil Fuels
Agroecosystems
Fertilizer
Total Human
Additions
Natural Sources
Teragrams of Nitrogen per Year
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.
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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.”
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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
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.
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.
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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
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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 overa large area
Week 04 Native American Farming
Technology120
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
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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Ant 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. FrankeThe Three
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 SistersSources 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.
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Montclair State University Department of Anthropology
Anth 140: Non Western Contributions to the Western World
Dr. Richard W. Franke
The Three SistersSources 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.
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