Society of Primitive Technology
by Tamara Wilder
The Society of Primitive Technology was founded in 1989 by Steve Watts, Scott Silsby, Errett Callahan, Jack Cresson, Susan Eirich-Dehne, Scooter Cheatham, Maria-Louise Sidoroff, David Wescott, and John & Geri McPherson.
Between 1991 and 2015 the society published 50 issues of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology (aka BPT) and 3 issues of the Primitive Technology Newsletter.
FInd assorted back issues of the BPT at the Paleo Store.
ABOUT THE NAME
How we use our understanding of how things work to make the things that we need or want
We as humans need technology
in order to survive and thrive.
The earliest skills form
the roots of the tree of technology.
Without them, we would not have any of the things that comprise our modern world.
Once the decision had been made to create a society, there were countless hours of discussion around the campfire over what to call it?
The founders themselves came from a variety of backgrounds including archaeologists, university professors, historians, museum curators, artisans, survival skills instructors and practitioners of life skills. The words used to describe these essential skills involved variations on phrases such as ancestral skills, aboriginal living skills, ancient living ways, earth based life ways, old ways, primitive ways etc….
The idea of using “Primitive Technology” came out of the desire to re-claim the true meaning of the word primitive by pairing it with a word like technology. Since most people generally interpret the word primitive in the negative as meaning less advanced or lesser in some way, the hope was that by putting it with a word that conjurs up images of our modern existence people would re-think the meaning of both.
Technology is not just a modern thing
and the primitive form is not lesser or negative.
It is instead the foundation, essential
and sometimes still the “best”.
The root word Prime
has 3 core meanings:
-First (as in beginning)
-Essential (as in primary colors)
-Best (as in prime example)
Unfortunately, the word “primitive” is also very charged and brings up so many negative connotations, especially in reference to people, that reclaiming its true meaning is going to take a lot of time and healing. Some even argue that it may never be possible. It is a word that has long been used to oppress indigenous cultures around the world and that dark part of our history needs to be acknowledged and understood.
The Bulletin was published twice a year and become a pivotal tool to help enthusiasts of “experimental archaeology” and “earth based” or “old ways” living skills find one another, network and stay connected in a mostly “pre-internet” reality. Several of the oldest ancestral skills gatherings were already giving participants much welcomed opportunities for “show & tell” where we could share and discuss experiments and experiences with newfound friends and colleagues. We would all leave those events with our brains buzzing with new ideas to play with until we were to meet again, either then next year at that same annual event or several months later at a different event. Each issue of the Bulletin would fill in this gap of time between events, add to this excitement and foster the sharing of new ideas and concepts far and wide. Besides articles about our experiments and projects, each issue also featured a “Bulletin Board” conveniently divided by regions of the United States and World where members of the Society were based. For the first time, we could find and list skills clubs, new gatherings, workshops, books, materials for sale, and anything else of interest to the community. In today’s internet world, it can be hard to visualize how important these connections were, but at the time the ways we found out about what others were doing was either by word of mouth, mailing lists or the Bulletin of Primitive Technology.
The first few issues of the Bulletin were edited by John & Geri McPherson of Prairie Wolf. They were already publishing a series of books on wilderness survival skill and had the tools to take on the project.
After a few years, David Wescott, who is also the organizer of the Rabbitstick Rendezvous and Winter Count Skills Gatherings took over being editor and continued in that role until the series was complete. Huge thanks to Dave for all of his hard work and dedication to keeping the Society of Primitive Technology alive!
While issues #1-12 have been OUT OF PRINT for over two decades, their contents have since been compiled into two books “Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills” and “Primitive Technology 2: Ancestral Skills”.
The illustrations and contributions by Steven M. Watts from a span of issues have also been compiled into the book “Practicing Primitive: A Handbook of Aboriginal Skills”.
After over a quarter of a century of regular publication, it was sad to see what had become an iconic magazine come to an end. Looking back it is easy to see that the entire collection of 50 bulletins tells a compelling story of our skills community that spans several decades and that the breadth of technical details, practical knowledge and ancestral wisdom that can be found in these pages would be hard to find anywhere else. There is lots of gratitude for having been part of such an important and prolific enterprise!
Find the complete listing of back issues 13-50 at the Society of Primitive Technology website
ISSUE #1 is out of print, but a digital scan can be downloaded for FREE
Over the time that the Bulletin was in publication, the number and frequency of Ancestral Skills Gatherings across the country was growing steadily. Now they happen in such regularity that some participants spend several months a year going from one to another. Several years ago, I attended a number of them myself and a few years before that, Dave Wescott dedicated many seasons to visiting as many as he could as research for writing a book on Ancestral Skills Gatherings. Unfortunately, the book never came to fruition but at least he was able to use much of his experience to create the “Gathering” Issue #49.
Issue #49 explores a number of Ancestral Skills Gatherings, several of which formed the original impetus for the formation of the Society itself.
We had been attending the Rabbitstick Rendezvous for a few years when the Society of Primitive Technology was founded and soon started contributing articles for several of the early issues of the Bulletin.
Cordage Making
Issue 2: page 19
Steven Edholm & Tamara Wilder
Buckskin Babblings
Issue 7: page 62
Alice Tulloch (featuring numerous braintanners)
Glue – A Book Review
Issue 8: page 71
Tamara Wilder
Working Hides with Bone and Antler
Issue 10: page 20
Steve Edholm & Tamara Wilder
Removing the Hooves from Deer
Issue 10: page 42
Tamara Wilder
Pit Bake
Issue 13: page 40
Tamara Wilder
Care and Storage of Hides
Issue 14: page 71
Steven Edholm & Tamara Wilder
The Dirt on Color
Issue 15: page 20
Steven Edholm & Tamara Wilder
A Developing Gathering Ethic
Issue 16: page 13
Steven Edholm & Tamara Wilder
Issue #50 contains a COMPLETE ISSUE INDEX
Looking for a particular author or topic?
Visit primitive.org to search the entire online Bulletin Archive and download a Bulletin Index.
Back Issue Sets can be ordered from primitive.org