PALEOTECHNICS
Ancient Arts & Technologies
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About Us

A lifetime of exposures to
a variety of important influences &
experimentation have provided
a broad base upon which
has been built a diverse skill set.

 
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Tamara Wilder

Tamara has been learning, researching, experminenting with and teaching ancient living skills since 1989.

She currently offers
hands-on 
Ancient Living Skills
Overview Programs
for schools and groups
&
Topical Workshops
for adults
all around Northern California 

These classes vary depending on the interest and age level of the group but usually include quite a focus on hands-on activity and are very well received by both the teachers, youth and adults alike.

 

Tamara originally began sharing skills with others as an assistant teacher for the Santa Cruz Mountians Natural History Assn (SCMNHA) Old Ways Seminar Series in Felton beginning in 1989, the Rabbitstick Rendezvous Skills Gathering in Rexburg, ID beginning in 1989 and the MAPOM California Indian Living Skills Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore beginning in 1990.

Through regular participation in the growing number of skills gatherings, she was fortunate to learn from, share with and co-teach with numerous skilled practitioners, anthropologists, archaeologists, professors, enthusiasts, inventors, and re-enactors who are now part of her extended community of colleagues, friends and co-workers.

She has dedicated her life to exploring and sharing the “pandemic” & “universal” ancient technologies that have formed the basis for everything that we now utilize in our daily lives. This “tree of technology” has roots which reach back over a million years, but which are still forming the structure that supports the lives of humans all around the world. The arts of shaping stone tools, twisting fibers in to string, processing the skins of animals into rawhide & leather, making tools out of bones, shells, antler, wood, etc… and throwing sticks through the air are all essential technical skills that were figured out by our ancestors so that they could survive and thrive. If they had not figured them out, then we would not be here today.

Her main focus through the years has been to figure out how to effectively teach “the basics” of tool-making, fire-making and string-making to youth and adults alike. These skills which form a strong foundation in further exploration of ancient technologies are essential but often not easy to figure out and getting some supportive instruction in the beginning can be quite helpful.

See scheduled classes for present schedule.

 

Current locales for Workshops and Programs include:

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She regularly demonstrates many of these skills at a variety of fairs and for groups, schools, museums and "living pre-history" events, which often includes replicating artifacts and/or making displays so that the public can better understand the processes by which they were produced as well as have the opportunity to handle and touch a particular item. 

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Current Demonstration & Display locations include:

Steven Edholm
SKILLCULT.COM

Steven has been learning, researching, experminenting with and teaching ancient living skills since 1987.

His most recent writings, videos and information on a plethora of projects and topics can be found at Skillcult.com

He originally started assisting Margaret Mathewson and teaching for the Santa Cruz Mountians Natural History Assn (SCMNHA) Old Ways Seminar Series in Felton, CA, the  Rabbitstick Rendezvous Skills Gathering in Rexburg, ID in 1989 and the MAPOM California Indian Living Skills Seminar Series at Pt. Reyes National Seashore in 1990 and continued to teach workshops for a number of years.

A collection of his older writings can be found at the Turkeysong blog and the Paleotechnics Blog.

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JIM RIGGS

Mentors, friends & colleagues who have shared countless bits of information around camp are many,
but the one that stands out as having had a tremendous amount of impact is all around skills icon,
Jim Riggs, who passed away in August of 2017.

Proud to be a luddite, there is very little on the internet about Jim but his daughter Kolle has started
a project called the Jim Riggs Room at his home in Eastern Oregon.

Please visit the Jim Riggs archive and reading room on patreon,
learn more and donate to help her honor her dad’s legacy.

Also visit the Jim Riggs Memories page on Facebook where stories, pictures and memories are being shared.

 

PUBLICATONS

Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning (1997)

Paleotechnics Handbooks
-CALIFORNIA BAY LAUREL Handbook
-SHARPENING TOOLS Handbook
-SO YOU HAVE A DEAD ANIMAL? Handbook
-USING THE WHOLE ANIMAL Handbook
-SUSTAINABLE HARVEST Handbook
-PEPPERONCINI, PIMENTOS AND HOT SAUCE Handbook

Chapters on a variety of topics in the books:
Primitive Technology I: Earth Skills &
Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills

Chapter on "Whole Shoot Willow Basketry" (1994).
in  WOODSMOKE: Collected Writings on Ancient Living Skills 

PATREON PAGE:

Handbooks, Books & Articles
Subscribe and receive access to online articles, digital & paper publications and much more!

BLOG:

Paleotechnics Blog - LEARN, FIND, MAKE
paleotechnics.wordpress.com


MEDIA:

Online Journal KNOW
”Learn to Burn” article
9/25/12

Ukiah Daily Journal 
”Ancient Skills for Modern Times” article
9/17/2009

Featured in the show Modern Marvels: Leather on the History Channel - 2006

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San Francisco Chronicle
”Getting Back to Basics” article
2/12/2004

 

Past Workshop & Presentation hosts include: 

Past Demonstration & Display Locations include: