"Gunner" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Wayne Lundberg" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm reading a fabulous book "1491" by Charles Mann.... there is a
> > statement
> > that maize will not propagate without human intervention. Further, there
> > is
> > no genetic antecedent which makes one a believer in Divine Intervention.
> >
> > Add to this, that maize is really not a full nutrient unless treated
with
> > lie overnight? And who would have had that doctor in chemistry some
6,000
> > years ago when maize gave birth to the Olmec and Tlatilco cultures?
> >
> > Wayne... forever in quest of the Garden of Eden in the Americas and why
it
> > was lost. (not to mention a good taco!)
> >
>
>
> Wayne, You did not tell us what the challenge is?
>
> Are these posts to encourage debate or just rhetorical? Mann's 1491 is
an
> interesting read but I did not find any dynamic revelations that have
not
> been touched on before.
>
> Aside from the Doctor in Chem comment, two omments you make are puzzling
as
> to what you mean ?
> 1) "Further, there is no genetic antecedent which makes one a believer
> in Divine Intervention". Is this a matter of puncuation or are you saying
> a
> diety started the crop?
> 2) "I can see an advantage of an inpenetrable husk. Ancient Sumarians
> had to store their grain in clay pots. No clay pots needed with maize!"
> Where did
> they store the corn, how did they keep the rodents out but most
> specifically how did the pre-iron folks nixtamale it if they didn't use a
> clay pot? Understand the importance of the transition from baskets to clay
> pottery in an early society lifecycle.
>
> BTW, Add lye (as opposed to lie) to your spell checker but I bet the Maya
> alkaline solution (Cal) for the Nixtamal process was probably
accomplished
> more with the good old limestone the Yucatan is built on and less on wood
> ash as in the more northern regions where limestone and caliche is not as
> prevelent. Once again I say go see Rolly's website, I seem to recall him
> having something in the house building section on lime and tamales. Kinda
> strange combo, cement and tortillas, huh? ( If you read this Rolly,
another
> good topic would be to get Herbal/Medicinal remedies in your area
> documented) . Wayne, I am sure you have read on Pellagra and how there
are
> Mexican, Central and South American communities suffereing from this.
> Europeans learned this the hard way and perhaps why 90 percent of the
> world's corn is being fed to livestoc, was anyway. The Three Sisters(
Corn,
> Beans and Squash) helped the nutrition base in early Indiginous American
> life but were not the panacea you may seek as the centerpiece in your
Garden
> of Eden.
>
..Good one Gunner! I mention the 'no antecedent' as a quote from the book,
not because of research. My prior studies show a very early corn cob found
in some cave somewhere dating back over 10,000 years - but don't remember
where.

As to the husks to store the grain. I remember we did that in the ranch.
We'd come down from the city as often as possible and would have to rewire
the cotton covered wires on the generator after the rats and mice had their
field days in the machine. But never saw much nibbling on the maize stored
in the storage room at the back of the hacienda. A huge place full of aging
corn in the husk.

Of course the natives had clay... about the same time they discovered
agriculture in Tlatilco, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, etc. But it was apparently
not necessary to have huge pots like in the Crescent Triangle.

As to lye... have been reading Caveman Chemistry and apparently this
substance can be produced without effort, kind of jut let nature do it's
job. Say you have a nice fire going and you keep it going and one day it
rains. So it puts out the fire and the water leeches through the old ash,
and comes out strong with lye, limewater, whatever you call the caustic
stuff used to make soap too.

I guess the real challenge is in imagining how that little itty bitty corn
cob no bigger than a baby's pinkey eventually was hybridized into a meal
sized cob.

It is always a pleasure reading your most informative posts.

Wayne