Soils and Civilizations exam 2

UTK ESS 120 exam 2

Know Diamond’s Road Map

fail to anticipate the problem, fail to perceive the problem, fail to try and solve the problem, try to solve it but does not succeed

Mangareva

15 miles in diameter; 1000 miles from Polynesia; 10 miles²; had fish, oysters, and shellfish; several thousand people; survived by lowering the standard of living

Pitcairn

2.5 miles²; 300 miles east of Mangareva; volcanic glass and basalt; trees for canoes; no fishing; few people; most isolated

Henderson

14 miles²; 100 miles east of Pitcairn; no rock for tools; no freshwater; soil is limestone; tough Maketea landscape; short trees; cliff rock shelters; glut on seafood; no soil, water, or trees; only sugary food

Mangareva sent…

oyster shells to Pitcairn and Henderson; pigs, taro, and crops to Pitcairn and Henderson

Mangareva received…

Fishhooks from Henderson; Adzes and feathers from Pitcairn; Marriage partners from Henderson; turtles from Henderson

Pitcairn sent…

volcanic glass; basalt to Mangareva and Henderson

Pitcairn received…

Pigs, taro, and crops

Henderson sent…

Sea turtles, parrot feathers, marriage partners

Henderson received…

Shell, fishhooks, and peelers from Mangareva; basalt, adzes, and oven stones from Mangareva; volcanic glass cutting tools from Pitcairn

Describe the islands at the beginning…

inexhaustible natural resources (fertile land, good trade, increase in population)

Describe the lands at the time of discovery…

population multiplied beyond the resources could support; forests fell; soil eroded; no more resources to trade, build ships, or nourish own population

How did the Mangareva Island survive

lowering the standard of living

What evidence is there that the Henderson islanders were gluttons

More than 14,000 fish bones; 42,000 bird bones; thousands of land birds every yd³; meaning they ate millions of birds and fish in a few centuries 

Explain why trade was important to the islands

they traded goods between one another

Trade stopped at 1500 AD, why?

The canoes quit coming to Henderson (and going); no trees; no stones; no people in 1790

What/Where is Mesoamerica

Extended from Central Mexico to Honduras

When was the peak of the Maya civilization

around 800 AD

How does deforestation and erosion = climate change

As population grew, farmers had to move uphill to farm, removing trees and increasing erosion. This decreased the fertility of the soil

How does deforestation impact climate

leads to less humidity which means a weaker ozone layer and more radiation penetrates the Earth causing rising temperatures which melt the ice caps, causing rising water levels, drowning out cities, changing ecosystems

What is albedo? How does it change with deforestation?

reflectants. changes the way heat reflects off surface

The South had more water supply problems but had a higher annual rainfall. Why?

In the South, the water table was deeper. So, they would have to dig holes, reshape natural depressions, and create cisterns/reservoirs

What is Karst topography

porous, limestone terrain that has dissolved forming sinkholes and caves

What is one hypothesized reason for the downfall of the Maya?

From cutting down trees to heat limestone. ex: Lime plaster

What is slash and burn agriculture

cut down the trees and burn the surface

Where did the domestication of staple crops take place?

Fertile Crescent: barley, wheat, lentils, chickpea, flax, grapes

Europe: oats, rye, peas

China, Indonesia: Rice, millet, beans, taro

Africa: sorghum, teff

What are the three sisters

Maize, beans, squash

What are the four categories of Diamond’s road map of factors that contribute to the failures of group decision making?

failure to anticipate, fail to perceive, fail to attempt to fix, fail to fix

Understand the Tragedy of the Commons

Garrett Hardin- A finite world can only support a finite population, commons only work under low population pressure, abandon the freedom to breed

Is it okay to have a lottery, what effect does this have on the commons

mutual coercion (who would pay voluntary taxes), only a perfect system is tolerable, so the status quo would win. 

Understand Diamond’s five-point framework

Human environmental impact, climate change, hostile neighbors (impact on trade), decreased support by “friendly” neighbors, how a society responds to its problems

Explain dendrochronology

study of tree rings, rainfall pattern “signal” in width of rings

Know the timeline for humans, corn, and squash to reach the US Southwest. When did population start decreasing?

Humans: 11000 BC, Corn: 2000 BC, Squash: 800 BC, started decreasing at 1117 AD

What do “Anasazi” and “Pueblo” mean

Anasazi- the ancient ones, Pueblo- town or village

When and where was corn domesticated

3500 BC in central Mexico

What are the three sisters

Corn, squash, and beans

What are check dams and why are they important

A series of stone walls built across streams, creates a small field with sediment built up behind the dam for prime cultivating conditions

The Hohokam area near Phoenix was a substantial irrigation project. How big and how long farmed?

450-1450 AD, irrigated 28000 ha (108 mi²), up to 35 km long (21 mi)

What is field building

silt-laden waters deliberately diverted to create arable land

Explain coping strategies used by groups in the desert Southwest US

move to a new spot once old one was exhausted, plant crops at many sites, plant crops only near streams

Explain how pack rat middens are used to understand prehistoric plant changes

plant remains that often become solidified because of ratpack urine and feces.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Chaco Canyon

Advantages: narrow canyon caught rainfall, large upland area, high rates of soil renewal, lower elevation (longer growing season)

Disadvantages: water level below plants, dry climate couldn’t keep pace with heavy logging

What is the significance of Pipestone National Monument? 

Catlinite- contains prophylite, diaspore, muscovite, kaolinite and hematite, all traded around the US

Understand fallacious argument methods

argumentum ad populum - a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it
argumentum ad numerum
cognitive dissonance - having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes
illusory truth effect - tendency to believe information to be correct after repeated exposure

Understand some approaches to undermine science

fallacy of false equivalence - 2 opposing arguments appear to be logically equivalent when in fact they are not
fallacy of appealing to nature - "a thing is good because it is 'natural', or bad because it is 'unnatural'"
observation selection - exists when some property of a thing is correlated with the observer existing in the first place
appeal to faith - thesis is deemed correct on the basis that it is correlated with some past or present tradition
appeal to conscience - appeal to another person's conscience in order to convince him to act in certain ways

Be able to give two prehistoric examples of sustainable soil stewardship 

crop rotation and planting cover crops

What role does indigenous knowledge play in sustainability

if your'e not indigenous you don't know how to properly sustain the area

Know the relative location of the Anasazi and the Mimbres

Anasazi were located in the Four Corners region ( Northern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, southern Utah, and northern Arizona). The mimbres lived in southwestern New Mexico

What is dryland agriculture 

farming that only relies on rainfall

How is Hopi and/or Zuni (maize) corn different from corn growing in Tennessee

TN - hybrid corn seed is more expensive, but yields more corn
hopi/zuni - open pollinated corn

What is the importance of clay rich (argillic) subsoil horizons

can hold more water than normal soil

Why are small dams and terraces important in “runoff” agriculture

builds up supply of water and uses runoff to irrigate it

Would runoff agriculture work in low intensity rainfall areas

no

What evidence was given that the terraced soils in Peru were under 1500 years of near-continuous agriculture

samples containing charcoal

Explain why soil A horizon thickness is a good estimation of current and past productivity 

cultivated land is thicker

What is the significance of the abandoned and unabandoned terraces in the next slide

abandoned soil is high in phosphorus

What is the significance of the manure and the ashes

increased fertility

Where did the P come from

guano (bat crap) from shore

Who were the Tainos

Largest people group of native people (8 million), agriculture gave the highest returns in food

What was the significance of Columbus’ letter to Luis De Sant Angel

he said they could easily be conquered and readily converted to Christians.

What was the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick

formalized Spanish recognition of the French occupation of Hati, settled war of the League of Augsburg.

How did the island get split in the first place

too many pirates in the west so the Spanish gave up that half and the French moved in

Why was the Battles of Vertieres important

Napolean’s army of 50,000 defeated, end of slavery, resulted in Napolean ceding

How do the economics of Hati and the DR compare

Haiti is all low-income, DR is big on tourism.

How did the leadership of Balaguer impact the environment of DR?

Watershed protection, reforestation, closed sawmills, ended logging, imported lumber, natural gas/propane programs