Native Americans historically used fish as agricultural fertilizer
the verdict
CONTESTED
contested - the weight sits with the supporting side
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
3 sources for · 0 against
While some historical accounts note the practice of using fish as fertilizer, scholarly research indicates that the specific origins and diffusion of this practice as a Native American tradition are subject to debate.
The belief that the use of fish fertilizers originated among North American Indians, and was communicated as such by Squanto to the Plymouth settlers, has achieved the status of folklore and is therefore difficult to challenge. However, examination of the documentary evidence of Squanto's history and of native cultivation practices, and a cultural analysis of the implications of the use of fish fertilizer, have produced complementary lines of evidence. This evidence indicates that widely held beliefs about the "manner of the Indians" should be revised: Squanto's advice at Plymouth is probably best viewed as an interesting example of culture contact, one in which a native "culture-bearer" conveyed a technological idea from one group of Europeans to another.
... agricultural techniques, ceremonial practices, and burial rites. White's paintings were used in Thomas Harriot's ... fish as fertilizer was an Indian contribution, although a definitive answer for its origin has not been decided ...
Employing innovative research and unique interpretations, these essays provide a fresh perspective on Native American history by focusing on how Indians lived and helped shape each of the United States. Native America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia comprises 50 chapters offering interpretations of Native American history through the lens of the states in which Indians lived or helped shape. This organizing structure and thematic focus allows readers access to information on specific Indians and the regions they lived in while also providing a collective overview of Native American relationships with the United States as a whole. These three volumes synthesize scholarship on the Native American past to provide both an academic and indigenous perspective on the subject, covering a
pottery, methods of, 70, 7 1, 72 Fish, fertilizer for maize, 27; methods of taking, 19; nets, distribution of use , 50; taboo against in bison area, 11;
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