permaculture

["Sandra Beerman" <sbeerman@tymewyse.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 11:41 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Who was the seed Keeper?


> 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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