Australia: Fire, Country, and the World's Oldest Land Managers
Australia: Fire, Country, and the World's Oldest Land Managers The oldest grinding stones ever found — used to process seed into flour — were...
The oldest grinding stones ever found — used to process seed into flour — were discovered at Madjedbebe, a rock shelter in the Northern Territory of Australia. They are approximately 65,000 years old.
That date is worth sitting with. Sixty-five thousand years ago, people in Australia were processing seed. They were collecting, grinding, and preparing plant food in a systematic way — long before the Fertile Crescent, long before the Andes, long before any other agricultural tradition we have record of.
The continuous culture of Aboriginal Australians is the oldest on earth. The relationship between that culture and the Australian landscape is the longest-running land management tradition in human history. And for most of that time, the primary tool was fire.
Country
Aboriginal Australians do not use the word "land" the way most agricultural traditions do.
They use the word "Country."
Country is not a resource. It is...
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Level 2 posts include longer research, field-tested guidance on KNF and regenerative methods, and systems thinking that connects food, land, energy, and local economies.
The Fertile Crescent: Irrigation, Salinity, and the Cost of Abundance
Australia: Budj Bim, Songlines, and the Living Knowledge Map
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