inventions: further reading most creative methods of agriculture Their development from around 8000 to 7000 b.c.e of milpa, or slash-and-burn agriculture, was probably influenced by the observation of nature’s own replenishing forest fires Raised-bed agriculture, by contrast, seems to have been invented without the inspiration of a natural process Around the second millennium b.c.e raised-bed agriculture was separately invented in Mesoamerica by the Maya and by several peoples in the Andes In this process, mounds of earth (and sometimes composted, biodegradable debris) were built up in artificially drained or flooded swamps Thus, farmers could make islands of food grow in otherwise dry areas (like the Andes) or vary an ecological system to include drier-climate plants, such as corn, in a swampy area (like some parts of the Maya territory) Guano, a fertilizer derived from bird droppings collected along the Pacific coast of Peru, had been used in the Andes since around 3000 b.c.e to boost crop production Perhaps the most influential of ancient American inventions is biological Selective breeding by Native Americans, perhaps over a period of centuries, has produced the plant we know as maize Maize, or corn, is a plant that has no apparent wild relative, except perhaps a grass called teosinte that produces a very small grain Maize cannot grow by itself Hidden inside a protective husk, kernels of corn cannot germinate unless they are removed and tended by a farmer Between 7000 b.c.e and 2500 b.c.e Mesoamerican farmers seemed to have biologically engineered corn from a wild variety, probably teosinte, into a high-yielding, starchy grain Thus, Mesoamericans did far more than domesticate a preexisting species; they created a new one This engineered food source is now a staple in Africa, Europe, and Asia, having been adopted by almost every society that can grow it See also adornment; agriculture; architecture; art; astronomy; building techniques and materials; cal- 605 endars and clocks; ceramics and pottery; cities; clothing and footwear; crafts; death and burial practices; economy; empires and dynasties; festivals; food and diet; gender structures and roles; government organization; health and disease; hunting, fishing, and gathering; metallurgy; military; mining, quarrying, and salt making; money and coinage; music and musical instruments; nomadic and pastoral societies; numbers and counting; religion and cosmology; science; seafaring and navigation; ships and shipbuilding; slaves and slavery; social organization; sports and recreation; storage and preservation; textiles and needlework; transportation; weaponry and armor; weights and measures; writing FURTHER READING Susan J Herlin, “Ancient African Civilizations to ca 1500,” 2003 Available online URL: http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/history/ herlin/textsup.htm Downloaded on January 24, 2007 Peter James and Nick Thorpe, Ancient Inventions (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994) Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield, American Indian Contributions to the World (New York: Checkmark Books, 2003) Stuart Piggott, The Earliest Wheeled Transport (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983) Ivan Van Sertima, ed., Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1983) Silkroad Foundation, “History of Silk.” Available online URL: http://www.silk-road.com/artl/silkhistory.shtml Downloaded on February 26, 2007 Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World (New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1988) K D White, Greek and Roman Technology (London: Thames and Hudson, 1984) Trevor I Williams, The History of Invention (New York: Facts On File, 1987)