HONORING OUR SHARED HERITAGE

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        "I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me."  Terance (154 BC)

The future is not to be found in the past. Yet, we know that the outermost bud on the uppermost branch is fed by the deepest root. Ninety-five-plus percent of our history as humans cannot be ignored. "Written" by scavengers, hunters, gatherers and early agriculturalists; the story of the Stone Age is our story. It is the great common denominator of humanness. Primitive Technology is a way into that story.

                    We are drawn to it as to a fire ... and, there we find others.

The learning and practice of primitive skills can help us all get in touch with our own roots – no matter what our particular heritage may be…if we go back far enough into our own pasts, we discover that we are all aboriginal peoples at some time in some place. 'Primitive' ('first') skills are our shared inheritance.

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No one is from no where. The blood of our ancestors flows in our own veins. Our Aboriginal legacy is written in the very make-up of our own bodies. The ancient caves and campfires of our pasts call to us from within. Primitive Technology is our inheritance as well. It is a world heritage that knows no race, creed or color. It is foreign to no one. It is the shared thread that links us to our prehistory and binds us together as human beings.              

       That we honor here above all.     

                                      Steven M. Watts

Primitive Technology - "The original digital technology".   Watts, 2000

Experimental Archeology may be defined as ''that branch of archeology which seeks to interpret material culture, technology, or lifeways of the past by means of structured, scientific experimentation".

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Experiential Archeology, closely akin to experimental archeology, involves "interpretation of material culture and technology by means of physical reconstruction, or experiential means".

Primitive Technologies are based on artifacts or generalized models that may be part of or derived from prehistory. The use of appropriate materials and procedures may be aided by the use modern tools during the learning stages. Higher levels stress the accuracy of researched material, tools, and procedures. "The objective is to produce  plausible replications/reconstructions/reenactments to gain insights and make inferences to the many fields of social and applied sciences including: archaeology, anthropology, sociology, living history, recreation and others.   

Primitive Technology Newsletter No. 1, 1995