“Primitive technology is a growing field, one in which we help people to see themselves in prehistory,” says Scott Jones, whose skills range from making rope to starting a fire with a bow drill to making blow guns. “All of our ancestors, regardless of race or geographical origin, were using stone tools just a few thousand years ago. Many of the basic skills were common to everyone.”
The events will kick off on Thursday, October 25 at 7 p.m. when Chris Judge, president of the Archaeological Society of S.C., offers a free public lecture in room 309 of the Albert Simons Center for the Arts (54 St. Philip Street). Judge will talk about the more than 15 years he and his team have spent excavating the KolbSite near Darlington, S.C. The Kolb Site has yielded everything from prehistoric pottery and arrowheads to a chandelier found in an abandoned cellar.
In the Cistern Yard on Friday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., there will be an array of living history demonstrations including the basics of fire, cord, and points, to more advanced skills such as shooting a handmade bow and a discussion of atlatls and their power to early hunters. The public can also bring primitive artifacts for identification by one of the state’s archaeologists.
On Saturday, October 27 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the public is invited to primitive skills classes hosted by the College of Charleston Archaeology Club. The classes will be held at Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul (126 Coming Street) and registration at www.elementalskills.com is required. Class topics include sewing buckskin, flint knapping, traditional woodland flute making, and midlands pine needle basket weaving.
Re-posted from: http://beachcarolina.com/2012/09/26/cofc-hosts-archaeology-event-with-demonstrations-artifact-identification/