Primitive Skills Checklist

abo4ster

abo4ster

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The following is a Primitive Skills Checklist from an article entitled Going Wild – Organizing a Primitive Living Experiment by Alice Tulloch in the Fall 2007 edition of the Society of Primitive Technology’s Bulletin of Primitive Technology.

Per the article, it is for discussion purposes only and it is not intended for one person to have every skill mentioned. Nor is it supposed to be a complete list. A person would bring a set of skills to the tribe and hopefully the group would have enough skills for the tribe could meet its goals.

Once a year I do a stint in the wilderness that kicks my butt as to just how hard it would be going primitive. This list reminds me of that reality check. I possess some of these skills – but not many, and I am surely not a master of those I do have either. I hope sharing this with you increases your knowledge, awareness, provokes thought and gives you perspective in your place on Mother Earth. Peace, Chris

Social Skills
• Ability to work in a team, for the common good
• Ability to receive criticism and to effectively offer constructive criticism
• Desire to work harder than others, and take the initiative to get things done for the common good
• Ability to maintain a positive attitude
• Knowledge of primitive games, fun, music and celebrations

Travel
• Ability to hike solo over unfamiliar terrain without getting lost
• Ability to guide others, physically and verbally, to a location unknown to others
• Ability to read the landscape to anticipate the easiest route of travel, and the location of water, game, plants and useful materials
• Knowledge of safe stream crossings, snow crossings and rough terrain travel
• Knowledge of long distance travel strategies and the economic calendar of the area
• Good physical condition, moderate body fat, tough feet
• Ability to hike 5-15 miles per day with a 30-lb. pack

Fire
• Consistently started fire by friction using a variety of materials
• Made a successful friction fire set from materials on-site using stone age tools
• Consistently made friction fire in the rain, snow and dark
• Experience using fire for cooking with pottery, stone boiling and pit bake
• Experience banking fire or other methods to maintain coals overnight
• Carrier fire using a long match from one camp to another
• Used fire to bend wood
• Used fire to coal-burn a container

Shelter
• Made a nearly waterproof wickiup, lean-to and debris hut and slept in them
• Made a coal bed and slept on it
• Slept in a primitive shelter using only natural, local bedding and stone age gear
• Made a primitive shelter in the rain or snow and slept in it
• Made a woven or sewn tule or cattail mat

Food (See also next two categories)
• Has lived completely off the land for one week
• Ditto, in each of the four seasons in your area
• Proficiency with a variety of food storage techniques and pest controls, including smoking, drying, rendering, granaries, and caches

Plants
• Has a thorough knowledge of plant families and their characteristics
• Has a thorough knowledge of original people’s plant uses, harvesting, processing, and storage methods in the area
• Has a thorough knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses in the area

Trapping, Fishing, and Hunting
• Has a thorough knowledge of the habitats and habits of the fish and wildlife in the area. Has an understanding of sustainable harvesting
• Has skill in reading animal signs and tracks
• Has captured animals with primitive deadfalls, snares and traps
• Can construct 4 kinds of triggers on site using stone tools
• Can construct 2 kinds of snares on site using stone tools
• Has caught fish using primitive line and lure, spear, fish trap and/or gill net
• Knowledge of stalking and skill hunting techniques
• Harvested a big game animal with stone age equipment
• Made and is proficient with primitive bow and arrow, atlatl and dart, and throwing stick
• Butchered and skinned an animal with stone tools

Clothing
• Made buckskin using only stone age tools and brains of the animal
• Made a complete set of buckskin clothing including shirt/dress, leggings/skirt and moccasins
• Sewn buckskin with only stone age tools and materials
• Tanned fur-bearing animal and made garment from the fur
• Knowledge of rawhide processing and construction methods
• Knowledge of bark tanning process
• Made clothing out of plant fiber (examples: tumpline, sagebrush sandals, cedar bark blanket)
• Made and used winter footwear in wet or snowy weather. Knowledge of greased or insulated footwear
• Knowledge of clothing, equipment and methods to deal with cold and rainy conditions

Basketry and Cordage
• Made baskets from a variety of materials and techniques including a burden basket and water-tight basket (without pitch and sealant0
• Made baskets sealed with pitch or other sealant
• Knowledge of netting techniques
• Knowledge of stone boiling in a basket
• Made cordage from a variety of materials and techniques
• Made rope from many strands braided and multi-plied

Pottery
• Made a fired pot holding 1 gallon from wild harvested clay
• Knowledge of cooking with pottery on a fire

Knapping
• Competency in basic spalling, percussion and pressure flaking, pecking and hafting
• Made uniform thin, straight blades, 5 inches or longer, using stone age tools (no copper)
• Made and proficient in use of scrapers, burins and drills
• Made and proficient in use of stone axe
• Knowledge of heat treating stone
• Made tools from a variety of stone
• Knowledge of useful stone materials in the area

Bone and Antler Tools
• Made bone and antler tools with stone age equipment, including fish hooks, spears, awls, needles
• Used bone or antler for wedges, cutting, stabbing, sawing, pounding and knapping

Woodsmanship
• Knowledge of security measures regarding wolves, bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, scorpions, etc
• Awareness of weather changes and patterns
• Awareness of wildland fire behavior and safety measures
• Has developed their intuition and woods savvy
• Awareness of changes in natural flow (bird and bug chatter, wind direction, etc)
• Knowledge of collection, preparation and use of pitch and glues, mineral pigments
• Knowledge of useful knots including fisherman’s, bowline, square, clove hitch, tauntline, and stopper knots
• Knowledge of lashing and splicing
• Knowledge of telling time by the sun and stars

Healthcare
• Knowledge of primitive hygiene concerns, preventative measures and remedies
• Thorough knowledge of backcountry first aid, CPR and evacuation methods
• Knowledge of infectious diseases, adverse syndromes, hypothermia, parasites and poisonous plants that occur in the area; preventative measures and modern treatment
• Knowledge of how a wild diet and primitive activities impact nutritional needs
 
Quiet Bear,

I find this list somewhat humbling, I lack most of the skills listed here. Thanks for the post.
 
Hey Quiet Bear,

Thanks for posting that. I, too, am a member. Unfortunately I am behind in my reading.

For the forum members that are more interested in developing skills than acquiring equipment (no, this is not a flame nor did I say anything bad about Busse :rolleyes:) you could do a lot worse than join the Society of Primitive Technology. Twice a year they publish the Bulletin of Primitive Technology and they are packed full of information, and it covers the whole range, from experiential archaeology (sp?) to friction fire, basket making to flint knapping -the whole thing. Check them out here.

Doc
 
Great list. I'm working on my flitnapping now. My goal is to become proficient and then make a primitive bow and arrows from scratch.
 
Quiet Bear said:
Per the article, it is for discussion purposes only and it is not intended for one person to have every skill mentioned. Nor is it supposed to be a complete list. A person would bring a set of skills to the tribe and hopefully the group would have enough skills for the tribe could meet its goals.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a really great list - I think I'll print it out and keep it as a reference for building up my skill set over the years. Many thanks! :thumbup:

There does seem to be one general area that isn't mentioned in the list of skills for the tribe to meet its goals. There isn't any reference to inter-tribal activities such as trading and warfare. Trading involves an extensive set of skills from understanding another culture, communicating in a (possibly) different language or dialect, the art of bartering, hospitality and gift-exchange, and inter-marriage. And warfare of course has an extensive set of skills from weapons manufacture, hand-to-hand combatives, creating and training disciplined fighting forces, sentries and advanced warning systems, interrogation, and tactics and strategy. The saying that no man is an island also applies to tribes. A tribe will have to depend on other tribes for resources as well as potentially defend itself from other tribes.

Also, since primitive peoples relied on fire so much to shape their environment via selective burning, the land management skills of controlled burning would also be very valuable. Although it isn't practical to put such skills into practice these days, it is a body of knowledge that probably isn't very well explored by those interested in primitive technology despite perhaps being the most effective in terms of overall economic welfare.
 
akennedy - I agree it doesn't mention the things you did, it also doesn't cover agriculture. The article revolves around experimental design to a certain extent which is why it probably doesn't have the fore mentioned. Maybe we should add to it in this post for our purposes.
 
I've got a list of personal 'goals' that I thought was full, but that is a great list (without being absurd) that is worth all the work it would take to attain that level of skill/knowledge. I'm certainly a few miles/lightyears from such competency... :eek:

This is certainly the kind of thing I'd love to delve deeply into when school is over.

Thanks, DOC, for the website.
 
akennedy73 said:
.................communicating in a (possibly) different language or dialect, the art of bartering, hospitality and gift-exchange, and inter-marriage. And warfare of course has an extensive set of skills from weapons manufacture, hand-to-hand combatives,
Click to expand...

ak47, er, I mean ak73,

How come you differentiate between warfare and marriage?

Doc :D
 
DOC-CANADA said:
ak47, er, I mean ak73,

How come you differentiate between warfare and marriage?

Doc :D
Click to expand...

And along those lines, many tribal customs promoted the idea that a successful man had multiple wives. I doubt those successful men were very happy though. But it could account for the reason they were successful. They were most often out hunting, trading, or promoting healthy warfare with their neighbors!

Excellent list of skills, most of which would be good to learn for anyone who is truly, deeply into the arts of woodcraft and wilderness survival. My most challenging project (besides the deerhide boat) was a wattle and daub hut. It sure would have been easier with two or three wives carrying and mixing the clay while another wove the frame. I made it work, but it was smallish and not tempered nearly as well as the artifact pieces I had found which fostered the experiment.

Codger
 
Primitive Skills Checklist?

Ya, I'd say that my survival skills are quite primitive, and my knowledge pretty limited. I do believe however that I am better prepared/skilled/more knowledgeable and aware than most of the people that pass me on the street here in town on a day to day basis. Thanks for passing it on guys, you all help me.:thumbup:
 
Thats an exhaustive list. It emphasizes the need for a variety of skillsets. It'd be hard to master every bit of that.
 
This is a great thread and the link to the Society of Primitive Technology's site was very helpful.
I was just wondering if anyone owns the two books they sell, 'Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills' and 'Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills'?
Are they as good as they look and are they worth purchasing?

Thanks for any input.
 
Skean Dhu said:
This is a great thread and the link to the Society of Primitive Technology's site was very helpful.
I was just wondering if anyone owns the two books they sell, 'Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills' and 'Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills'?
Are they as good as they look and are they worth purchasing?

Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

Hey SD, I own the first one. It is a bit redundant since I have every issue of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology, and both books are really collections of different articles that appeared there. However, if you don't have the older issues of the Bulletin, they are excellent and highly recommended (by me :D)

Book 1:
There are 6 sections: Primitive Technology; Fire; Bone, Stone & Wood; Fibers; Projectiles; Art & Music.

To give you a better idea, the articles in the Fire section:
· The Miracle of Fire by Friction (Dick Baugh)
· Fire (Norm Kidder)
· Understanding Wood Fire (Mors Kochanski)
· The Hand-drill and Other Fires (David Wescott)
· Tips For Hand-drill Fire Makers (Paul Schweighardt)
· The Goysich Hand-drill (Evard Gibby)
· Pump-drill Fires (Anthony Follari)
· Tinder Bundle Construction (Charles Worsham)
· Polypore Fungi Fire Extenders (R. Allen Mounier)
· Where There Is No Tinder - (E.J. Pratt)
· Primitive Match (David Holladay)

The other sections are equally flushed out.

Hope that helps.

Doc
 
Hey Doc,

Thanks very much for the input. They look like good books and Amazon has the two for $33.00. I'll probably end up ordering them.
Thanks again.
 
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