Many soil scientists insist an ancient Amerindian agrarian society will soon make a huge impact on the modern world. They say once the intricacies and formulation of the society's "terra preta" (dark earth) is unlocked, the benefits will help stop environmental degradation and bring fertility to depleted soils. Developing and developed nations will benefit.

The story goes that in 1542, while exploring the Amazon Basin near Ecuador in search of El Dorado, Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana began checking the area around one of the Amazon's largest rivers, the Rio Negro. While he never found the legendary City of Gold, upon his return to Spain, Orellana reported the jungle area held an ancient civilization - a farming people, many villages and even massive, walled cities.

Later explorers and missionaries were unable to confirm Orellana's reports. They said the cities weren't there and only hunter-gatherer tribes roamed the jungles. Orellana's claims were dismissed as myth.

Scientists who later considered Orellana's claims agreed with the negative assessments. The key problem, they said, was large societies need much food, something Amazonia's poor soils are simply incapable of producing. And without agriculture, large groups of people are unable to escape a nomadic existence, much less build cities......

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