most creative methods of agriculture. Th eir development
from around 8000 to 7000 b.c.e. of milpa, or slash-and-burn
agriculture, was probably infl uenced by the observation of
nature’s own replenishing forest fi res. Raised-bed agricul-
ture, by contrast, seems to have been invented without the
inspiration of a natural process.
Around the second millennium b.c.e. raised-bed agri-
culture 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 artifi cially drained or fl ooded swamps. Th us,
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 Pacifi c coast of Peru,
had been used in the Andes since around 3000 b.c.e. to boost
crop production.
Perhaps the most infl uential of ancient American inven-
tions 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 pro-
duces 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. Th us,
Mesoamericans did far more than domesticate a preexisting
species; they created a new one. Th is engineered food source
is now a staple in Africa, Europe, and Asia, having been ad-
opted by almost every society that can grow it.
See also adornment; agriculture; architecture; art;
astronomy; building techniques and materials; cal-
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; gov-
ernment organization; health and disease; hunting,
fishing, and gathering; metallurgy; military; mining,
quarrying, and salt making; money and coinage; mu-
sic and musical instruments; nomadic and pastoral
societies; numbers and counting; religion and cos-
mology; science; seafaring and navigation; ships and
shipbuilding; slaves and slavery; social organization;
sports and recreation; storage and preservation; tex-
tiles 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 Th orpe, Ancient Inventions (New York: Bal-
lantine Books, 1994).
Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfi eld, American Indian
Contributions to the World (New York: Checkmark Books,
2003).
Stuart Piggott, Th e Earliest Wheeled Transport (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cor-
nell 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: Th ames and
Hudson, 1984).
Trevor I. Williams, Th e History of Invention (New York: Facts On
File, 1987).inventions: further reading 605