Have we lost all the essential skills it takes to survive in the wilderness without today’s modern conveniences or resources? For the most part I would say, YES, we have! And that is sad. So, I will attempt to remedy that in this post.
Early Human Survival Skills
Ancient tools & survival techniques helped humankind survive for thousands upon thousands of years, and they can definitely have a very real modern use for surviving in various disaster situations.
As with any of the modern preparedness tools and tactics, the use of the “primitive” (or prehistoric) tools/techniques is not easy to learn, and you should acquire these skills long before your life depends on them!
Let’s take a look at a few of the many primitive skills that could absolutely help you to not only survive, but fully thrive in the outdoors during a wilderness survival scenario…
Building a Spear-Thrower
The “atlatl” is a primitive long-range weapon that was used by the early human ancestors for millenia. It is capable of launching a dart very accurately (after a lot of practice obviously) and with enough velocity to kill large game animals.
There are a lot of different design options, but it is made by carving a shaft of wood, ivory, or bone with a handle and a spur which the dart is seated in before launching it. The atlatl is typically between 5-24 inches long and 1-3 inches wide. It can be carved from a tree limb with a small hook or stub of a branch left for the spur.
With sufficient practice, the atl-atl can be accurate up to 100 meters or so, but is best used at close range of around 20 meters or less. Its value as a primitive survival tool is that it can be easily manufactured and operated silently.
The atlatl’s ammunition consists of darts about twice the length of a standard arrow up to 8 feet. A dart can be made in three main parts, which include: a foreshaft, a shaft, and fletching.
The fletching is a row of feathers, usually short, trimmed one-sided wing feathers, glued to the base end like on an arrow. They are in three rows with a slight twist to provide steady flight and rotation.
The foreshaft is attached to the stone or metal point with tree sap and sinew. All of the joints or areas on the shaft, foreshaft, and fletching that could split have to be reinforced with cordage or animal sinew.
Firemaking
Making fire is another primitive survival skill that is extremely important in many situations. In fact, it may be the MOST important for the vast majority of potential survivalism scenarios.
There are several different ways to build a fire and we recommend you learn at least a few of them, but for the purposes of this article, we are going to focus on just one of them — the Bow Drill.
A bowdrill or “fire drill” is relatively simple to make out of natural materials found in most environments and although frustrating, it can be mastered with a lot of practice. You will need a fireboard, socket, drill, and bow.
The small bow is made using a curved, stout but flexible branch or stick with a bow string. The string can be made from a shoelace or parachute cord, or anything similar that you have at your disposal. The string is attached with enough slack to twist a short fire starter stick in it. It should be adjusted to be — not too tight to be difficult to turn, and not too much slack where it won’t create the friction needed to start a fire — That means “just tight enough” and it’s a fine line which takes plenty of practice to master.
The bow is moved in a motion like a hand saw to twirl the fire stick rapidly on a notched plank, called the fireboard. The fire stick (8-12 inches long) should be of soft wood with a rounded, dull tip on one end that will help produce the ember; and a pointed tip that will seat in the socket on the other end.
The fireboard should consist of dry wood, at least a half-inch in thickness, and thick bark is often the best plank. Care should be taken to have all materials ready before starting to use the fire bow. This takes quite a bit of effort, but preparation is a large part of the battle. Only a small ember is created in the process and must be handled appropriately.
Flint Knapping
Flintknapping (or simply knapping) is a skill our prehistoric ancestors used for thousands of years to produce most of the tools needed to hunt, gather and prepare food.
A basic flintknapping tool kit includes: at least one hammerstone, soft hammer billets made from wood or deer antlers, antler tines for pressure flaking, and a leather pad for protecting the palm and leg. As you might guess, the main resource needed for flintknapping is a good quality flint.
Knapping is done by smashing a “core” with a “hammerstone.” This is done usually by holding the core in or near your lap or on the thigh. A miss can cause pain or injury, and rock spalls can fly in all directions and penetrate flesh, eyes, or bystanders. This should be done over a tarp or protected surface.
By striking the core with the hammerstone at a controlled angle, a “flake” can be produced. These are then selected for their ultimate use: arrow points, dart points or spear points; double edged or beveled knife blades; hide scrappers, and so on.
Hopefully you won’t ever have to use these 3 tools & techniques to survive, but I do hope you make time to learn more about them and practice them in case you do need to rely on some primitive survival tools one day! Remember, practice makes perfect, and these could save your life one day.