Primitive Technology

Drawn near to the fires of aboriginal skills, we look to the indigenous peoples of the world for inspiration and insight. From the Aborigines of Australia's Western Desert . . . to their brothers in New Guinea and north and east throughout the Pacific to Southeast Asia and Old Polynesia . . . to the Ainu in the farthest reaches of Japan . . . to the Toda herdsmen of backcountry India . . . to the Berbers of the sand of North Africa and their black brethren to the south in the jungles and savannahs of the Mother Continent . . . to the Native People of the Americas; in the rain forests, woodlands, high deserts, and great plains . . . to the Inuits, Lapps, and Siberians of the frozen tundra . . . to all the custodians of unbroken lineages wherever they may be . . . Primitive Technology is their inheritance and we honor that here.

Yet no one is from nowhere. The blood of our ancestors flows in our own veins. Our aboriginal legacy is written in the very make-up of our 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 which knows no race, creed, or color. It is foreign to no one. It is the shared thread which links us to our prehistory and binds us together as human beings. That we honor above all.

The learning and practice of ancestral skills can help us all get in touch with our own roots -- no matter what our particular heritage may be (American Indian, European, African, Asian, etc.). Here in North America, we look to Native Americans and the ancestors of these people to teach us skills that are "native" to this place. Yet, if we go back far enough into our own pasts, we discover that we are all aboriginal peoples at some time, in some place. The "Stone Age" is the great common denominator of humanness. "Primitive" (first) skills are our shared inheritance.