Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World

[Michaelangelica]

Listen Now - 2010-01-28 |

2009 Massey Lectures: The Wayfinders - Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, Lecture 1, Season of the Brown Hyena

 

The Wayfinders is a profound celebration of the wonder of human genius and spirit as brought into being by culture

.

this is an excellent lecture

This is the ABC link

Big Ideas

There will be a Canadian link too,

[maikeru]

I think many of the ancient agricultural techniques from other societies are worth study, preservation, and practice (including biochar/terra preta). Yesterday's societies had innovative solutions to many of the problems we face today.

[Cuauhtzin]

the chinampas is a great idea to agriculture in places with lakes and not other sources of irrigation

[JMJones0424]

I am fascinated by the techniques involved with growing food on chinampas. On its face, it appears to be a form of aquaponics involving a hybrid between deep water culture and wicking, but I think there was more involved than just that. I think that the use of lake sediment in the growing beds had a lot to do with an increase of chelated iron and therefore eliminated one of the typical problems with growing "higher" plants in aquaponics (entirely speculation on my part). My biggest concern would be a lack of oxygen in the root zone, so I wonder if specifically marsh loving plants were grown, of if they were able to grow terrestrial crops by building the beds up far above the water level. I would be forever indebted to you if you were to start a thread on chinampas and include anything you know on the subject.

 

Oh, and welcome to Hypography!

[Cuauhtzin]

thanks JMJ,

I really dont know anything about how much iron and oxygen and things like that plants need, but i can help mor ein the chistory, cultural and techinques. Im going to do a little research and i post a thread, with some other i had in mind.

 

I have been a little ausent because school and ohter activitys, i hope return in sunday XD

[Michaelangelica]

I listened to most of the second lecture in this series last night

He looked at the ability of the pacific island nations people to navigate.

 

I remember reading Captain Cook's biography and being struck (especially) by two facts

1. he was the first to use Chronometers so knew his longitude.

2. he picked up a native navigator in ? who was able to give him a complete map of the island of the entire pacific.

I don't think Cook could believe this. He spend many months cris-crossing the pacific in huge swathes up and down up and down looking for the "great south land" but also checking the accuracy of this "primitive" map. Which would not be able to be made by Europeans given their present (pre Cook) level of navigation skills. The pacific islanders had been traveling and trading over vast distances dead reconing for 3-4 thousand years.

 

Now my next question is 'Does this mean that S. America or the pacific islanders traded with Ancient Egypt?' The discovery of cocaine in old tombs has still not been explained,

[freeztar]

The discovery of cocaine in old tombs has still not been explained,

 

Indeed. So far, nobody has an explanation, to my knowledge.

 

http://hypography.com/forums/history-forum/12770-tobacco-and-cocaine-in-egyptian-mummies.html

[Michaelangelica]

The CBC link

CBC Radio | Ideas | Massey Lectures