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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Who was the seed Keeper?
  • Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 23:41:14 -0700

Sandra Beerman wrote:

Hi, I have a question and was wondering if you all could help. In groups through
history Who was the "Seed Keeper"?
Native Americans started out as hunter-gathers but at some point in time turned to "farming"? How about older groups? How were the future crops seed entrusted and to who? Any information you may have will be helpful.
This started me thinking about the history for seed saving, and wondering how
different groups saved seed and who was in charge.

I'll bet it was a distributed job, something that everyone in the community
involved with managing and harvesting crops participated in,
required knowledge if you were entrusted with growing food. Those who by experience, observation and experimentation gained exceptional knowledge of seed production, harvest and storage, would have taught the others and contributed to a shared knowledgebase that was passed
down through successive generations.

Fremont people, Paleo-Indians seed saving in Utah
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/09/20/utah.canyon.ap/index.html
Until recently, Range Creek was all but unknown. An expedition from Harvard's Peabody Museum made a stop in 1929, but visited only a few sites. In recent summers, archaeologists and graduate students have quietly conducted a labor-intensive survey -- keeping the area's full significance under wraps until news reports surfaced about the land transfer in June.
Archaeologists have documented about 300 sites -- pit houses, granaries and petroglyphs -- but they've surveyed only about 5 percent of the canyon drainage.
Among recent finds: a paddle-like wood shovel; a rare bundle of arrow shafts, found wedged in a canyon wall; a perfectly preserved beehive-shaped granary with a cap stone, still a third full with piles of parched wild grass seed and corn; and a pair of human remains from surrounding federal land. The Fremont would have used ladders, ropes or cords to reach some of their granaries, set at impossible heights.

LL
--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech




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