Eldorado - Documentary

[Chook Nut]

Hi all,

Last week watched a great doco/drama on Eldorado the lost civilisation in the Amazon.... just wondering if anyone managed to watch it.

If not, there is a bit of write up on it at: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200403/highlights/226211.htm

enjoy the read.

Dave

[Tezza]

Yes i saw that program as well very good wasnt it.My question i thought was....What happened to them? Was it a Permaculture Housing development that was rejected by the local Council(spanish)...was it climate changes,,etc etc etc
Needless to say, i fell asleep whilst trying to watch it Pity :cool:

[Chook Nut]

Hi Tezza,

Yes it was amazing to see how some Indian farmers are still using the abandoned mounds centuries later and the results they are getting.

Looks like you fell asleep when they explained what happened to the Indians. Unfortunately the guy who explored the Amazon basin left behind what killed off most of the Indians.... that was all the diseases they were never exposed to :( ... thats why when the Spanish priests went there a century later they couldnt find what de Orellano had written in his diary and thought he was a liar!

Dave

[Tezza]

Now I remember thanks... :D Wow a few new bugs let loose and thats it.I beleive they found something in Aussie few months back An old Aboriginal settlements That was a spin out cant remember details might be S Aust was on ABC/SBS I wonder if that kind of thing happens regulary (whole populations vanishing overt shrt periods of time.
:cool:

[Chook Nut]

An interesting read, if you like reading about history and culture, is called "Guns, Germs and Steel" A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 years by Jared Diamond. The book is a heavy read and covers all cultures from the Americas to Australia. A warning that it takes a while to get into.

It's the sort of thing that interests me.... i am sure you can get a bio of it somewhere off the net.

Dave

[muttabuttasaurus]

Yeah, Jared Diamond is pretty ace. I haven't read all of that book but what I did I found very thought provoking. There's a lecture you listen to here (http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/lectures/) , which I think takes up some of the ideas in Guns Germs Steel. Its pretty entertaining and head spinining. Love the stuff about the Vikings and the Inuit.
Chook Nut, have you also read Tim Flannery's ecological histories "the Future Eaters" & "the Eternal Frontiers"? They're also pretty interesting.

[Chook Nut]

Hi Mutta, I have heard of Tim Flannery and only read stuff about him on the net.... the books you mentioned do sound interesting from what i have gleaned about them, but they would be after the 7 or so books i have going at the moment :O

Cheers... Dave

[Mont]

For book number 8, Chook Nut, try A Green History of the World by Clive Ponting, if you're interested in that kind of thing.

[muttabuttasaurus]

Well, fair enough. I'm wading through Herodotus's "History" just for kicks myself. But check out the free streaming lecture by Diamond on that Princeton site. I like listening to stuff like that while I do the dishes or whatever... Its really nice in the case of Diamond to hear a mainstream acamedician making so much sense...

[Chook Nut]

Thanks for the reccommendation Mont.... sounds decent. I had a bit of a preview read at ecobooks.com .... they have a lot of good titles there.

dave