The idea for the volume first came about through a conversation the editors had at the Sustainable Management of Soil Organic Matter Conference in Edinburgh in September 1999. It developed with two symposia on Amazonian dark earths that were held in 2001 in conjunction with the Conference ofLatin Americanist Geographers in Benicassim, Spain, and the Congress of the Brazi lian Archaeological Society in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, respectively, and culmi nated at the First International Workshop on Terra Preta Soils held in Manaus and Santarem, Brazil, in July 2002. As a comprehensive treatment of...