Primitive technology thrives in a modern world
By Susan Guynn
News-Post Staff

Printed in the Frederick News Post, November 12, 2001

Joe Schilling of Germantown demonstrates how to build a debris hut at a recent gathering of the Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills group near Thurmont. This type of shelter is easy to build and would offer temporary protection from the elements in an unplanned or emergency wilderness survival situation. Anyone who spends time in the outdoors should know how to build a debris hut, says Mr. Schilling, who is a wilderness and primitive skills educator.

 

THURMONT — Kevin Haney's computer technology skills may pay the bills but it's his knowledge of primitive life skills that could help him survive.

The ability to identify and harvest edible wild plants; shape a bow from the wood of a locust tree; gather acorns to grind into flour; and build a fire without a friction match may be considered unenlightened skills in some social circles but quite an accomplishment in others.

Mr. Haney is part of an ever-growing circle of people seeking to trade a dependence on technology for a dependence on the bounty of nature.

"This is definitely not the survivalist crowd," he said. "It's a community of people who seek to adopt the Native American philosophy of living gently with the land while cultivating a respectful attitude of being able to use the gifts of nature to survive." It's a movement known as primitive skills, primitive technology or earth skills.

"Basically, we're rediscovering how Native Americans made everything themselves, recapturing that knowledge," said Mr. Haney, who is a computer security specialist for NIH and coordinator of the locally-based Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills (MAPS) group.

MAPS was formed about four years ago by a group of Tracker School students who live in Maryland. The school, located in New Jersey, was founded 23 years ago by Tom Brown and teaches primitive survival skills balanced with developing a connection and awareness with nature. It's one of a few such schools around the country.

The number of people interested in learning and perfecting these skills has been on the rise for several years, according to Dan Hirshberg, a spokesman for the Tracker School.

"We have people from all walks of life; all ages; men, women and children," said Mr. Hirshberg. "They come for a variety of reasons. In some cases people want that close attachment to nature." Some want to balance a hectic lifestyle with simple pleasures.

"Others use the skills for practical things, things that transfer to their everyday lives," he said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks the school has received "many, many" calls from people wanting to learn survival skills.

"They want to learn how to survive without modern conveniences," he said. "A lot of what we teach has to do with awareness skills. We talk in terms of nature and the wilderness and being aware of what's going on around you." These skills easily translate into almost "every element of life," even in an urban setting, he said.

Several times a year, the MAPS group rendezvous for the weekend at a primitive camp site in the Catoctin Mountains. A more formal three- to four-day gathering is being planned for June of next year. In addition to sleeping under the stars (or in a tent) and cooking over an open fire, they get a chance to hone their skills or learn new ones.

On a recent weekend, Joe Schilling, a wilderness and primitive skills educator who lives in Germantown, led a workshop on building a debris hut, a primitive sticks and leaves shelter that can be constructed fairly quickly once you know how. It's purpose is to provide emergency shelter.

"It's one step above burrowing in a pile of leaves," said Mr. Haney.

"With four-feet-thick walls and totally stuffed, this shelter can keep you warm in temperatures down to 40 below," Mr. Schilling told the group. "You have to inchworm your way in."

Basically, the shelter is a low, narrow framework of sticks that's covered with a minimum of one to two feet of leaves then stuffed full with leaves. The idea is to create a body-size space to protect you from the elements. It can also be covered with pine boughs, ferns, skunk cabbage leaves or whatever else is available.

"You can make an emergency shelter out of pillows and blankets," said Mr. Schilling. "It's how you put things together."

A facilities technician at a bio-medical firm in Rockville, he's an avid hiker and backpacker and, he says, wilderness skills give him peace of mind.

"My belief is the more skills you learn,when a crisis hits, you can think more clearly," said Mr. Schilling.

Primitive skills practitioners learn the "sacred order of survival," which states shelter, water, fire and food, in that order, are the four things needed for survival.

Hypothermia and hyperthermia present the biggest threat to wilderness survival, thus making protection from the elements crucial.

"Fire and water can be flip-flopped but you can only survive a few days without water," said Mr. Schilling. Making a fire using the bow and drill friction method is one of the first skills people want to learn.

"We can live several weeks without eating anything without suffering any permanent effects," said Mr. Schilling. But by the second week, he cautions, instinct kicks in and that leaf that looks tempting enough to eat could be toxic.

"It can be extremely dangerous," he said. Recognizing edible plants becomes secondary to identifying those that are poisonous.

"There are very, very few toxic plants and lots that are edible," said Mr. Haney. At a previous gathering he demonstrated how to leach the bitter-tasting tannins from acorns which were then used to make acorn soup or ground into flour for bread.

Displayed throughout his mountainside home are canteens made from gourds; baskets made from pine needles and wisteria vines; arrows made with river cane shafts and turkey feather fletchings; bows crafted from hardwoods; and obsidian and glass points, some knapped by friends and all finely crafted.

"Primitive creations will be a work of art," said Ming Diaz, who lives in St. Mary's County. "Primitive people had a huge amount of time on their hands." Once the skills were learned they were then perfected. Mr. Diaz is skilled at making cordage from plant fibers. The twisted fibers are ideal for fishing line.

For this gathering, he demonstrated how to use and make a sling using two lengths of parachute cord. A round, flat rock placed in the woven pocket and twirled in circles can be catapulted at four to five times the energy generated by an arm/hand throw.

"The Roman legions had slingers," said Mr. Diaz. "They would fire football-shape cast lead projectiles that were literally a traveling bullet." Indian and Medieval peoples also fought with this weapon which today is used for hunting or fun.

The skills of the Native American are first nature for Jim Roaix, who learned them from his grandfather. A native of Maine, he is a descendant of the Abenaki tribe, part of the Algonquin family that once inhabited most of Maine.

"I've been practicing these skills all my life," said Mr. Roaix, who is a member of the Society of Chesapeake Aboriginal Technologists in Calvert County where he now lives. He's facilities manager at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum and demonstrates primitive basketry, pottery making, cordage and clothes making skills for visitors.

"Baskets. That's my first love after my wife," he said. At the MAPS rendezvous he led a workshop on making a birch bark basket called a makak.

"It was the Tupperware of the Indians," he told the group. Makaks were used to store dried corn, beef jerky or similar dry foods. Traditionally, small baskets are made with the bark of paper or white birch and stitched using black spruce root fibers. An awl made of deer antler, sharpened by rubbing it on a flat rock such as sandstone, would be used to punch holes in the bark for the root thread.

"The modern way is to use a leather punch and waxed linen also known as artificial sinew," said Mr. Roaix.

The gatherings are fun, said Kathleen Sharkey of Carroll Valley, Pa. "I'm a hiker, backpacker and caver. I've spent a lot of years hiking and a few years doing this.

"Since I winter camp and backpack in the wilderness, you never know what might happen," said Ms. Sharkey, who is a registered respiratory therapist at Hanover (Pa.) Hospital.

Most of the MAPS group members are from Maryland and Virginia, with a few from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

"It started on the Internet," said Mr. Haney. "All of our communication and planning is by e-mail.

"We need to use the tools at our disposal," he said.

(For more information on the Mid-Atlantic Primitive Skills Group call Kevin Haney at 301-271-5023.)

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