Researchers Discover First Use of Fertilizer

sciencehabit writes "Europe's first farmers helped spread a revolutionary way of living across the continent. They also spread something else. A new study reveals that these early agriculturalists were fertilizing their crops with manure 8000 years ago, thousands of years earlier than previously thought."

Comments

Re:Early Discovery Due to Regional Climate?

[ebno-10db]

Since it's far more arid in the Middle East

8000 years ago it wasn't as arid. Once upon a time, what now seems like the ironically named Fertile Crescent really was fertile. A lot of the degradation also has to do with soil exhaustion and erosion, cutting down too many trees, etc.

Pfft, it has nothing on superdirt from the Amazon

[transporter_ii]

It still covers up to 10% of the Amazon basin, is man made, and if we could figure out how they did it:

If recreated, the engineered soil could feed the hungry and may even help fight global warming, experts suggest.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081119-lost-cities-amazon.html

Imagine if manure spread thousands of years ago still grew crops today. The terra preta —"dark earth" — of the Amazon is still working today.