USING EXPERIMENTAL ARCHEOLOGY

AND RESEARCH TO GAIN

SUSTAINABILITY
 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“...there are some who plunge into an unbroken forest with a feeling
of fresh, free, invigorating delight... These know that nature is stern,
hard, immovable an terrible in unrelenting cruelty. When wintry
winds are out and the mercury far below zero, she will allow her most
ardent lover to freeze on her snowy breast without waving a leaf in
pity, or offering him a match; and scores of her devotees may starve
to death in as many different languages before she will offer a loaf of
bread. She does not deal in matches and loafs; rather in thunderbolts
and granite mountains. And the ashes of her camp-fires bury proud
cities. But, like any tyrant, she yields to force, and gives the more,
the more she is beaten. She may starve or freeze the poet, the
scholar, the scientist; all the same, she has in store food, fuel and
shelter, which the skillful, self-reliant woodsman can wring from her
savage hands with axe and rifle.”
By studying the past we can gain a better understanding of the skills
and equipment needed to become sustainable
By combining research with experimental archeology we can
understand the true essence of self reliance-
The Iceman’s Clothing &
Equipment

The Iceman find provides us

with an unprecedented insight
into the daily life and
appearance of a Copper Age
inhabitant of the Alps over
5000 years ago. Under normal
conservation conditions, items
of clothing and equipment
made of organic materials
would have disintegrated long
ago. Ötzi carried an extensive
and efficient kit which allowed
him to remain away from home
for long periods and to be self-
reliant. With his tools he would
have been able to repair
damaged items and fashion
new ones.
The Iceman’s Equipment

The Axe
The Dagger
The Retoucheur
The Bow
The Quiver and its Contents
The Arrows
The Backpack
The Net
The Birch-Bark Containers
Minerals and Tools
The Stone Disc
Medicine?
 The pouch was a piece of sewn-
on leather, the opening of
which could be closed with a
Belt Pouch/Contents fine leather thong. The Iceman
used his belt pouch to store
various flint tools: a scraper, a
drill and a flint flake. A 7.1 cm
bone awl was also found. It
could be used for various jobs
from sewing to tattooing, or
simply as a toothpick. The belt
pouch was filled for the most
part with a black mass, later
identified as tinder fungus
(Fomes fomentarius). The
fungus, part of a prehistoric
lighter, contains traces of iron
pyrite. When struck against
flint, iron pyrite nodules
produce a shower of sparks.
When the sparks land on a bed
of fluffy tinder fungus, the
fungus begins to glow and can
be used to kindle a fire.
The Net

The roughly meshed net made

of tree-bast string was
probably used for catching
birds and rabbits.

The use of nets in prehistoric

times is recorded on bronze
receptacles from the Late Iron
Age. Rabbits would be driven
into the net before being
clubbed to death.
How the Indians Catch their
Fish, from "A Brief and True
Report of the New Found Land
of Virginia" by Thomas Hariot
(1560-1621) engraved by
Theodore de Bry (1528-1598)
1590

Records of Native Peoples are

only really available through
sketches, or journal accounts
from explorers, archeological
evidence is scarce for other
than stone, bone, or pottery.
Obviously for Coastal
Woodland Indians
Sustainability was effected in
large part by Fishing as shown
in this drawing.
To early settlers of North America the New World seemed like the Garden of
Eden, compared to European urban squalor and depleted natural resources
(Roberts, 2007). The American landscape was as yet unaltered by deforestation
and the development of agriculture. The streams were clear, not dammed, and
teeming with fish. The oceans held unbelievable abundance. The colonists beheld
the beauty and abundance and set to the work of recreating their European
environment in the new world. They cleared land for agriculture and new
settlements, built dams and mills, and fished and hunted for food and profit.
 The Fur Trade- Started
in the 17th Century

The fur trade in North America began with the early contact between the
American Indians and the Europeans. Within a few years, French, English,
and Dutch fur traders were bartering with the American Indians over a
large part of what in now the northeastern and central United Stated and
Great Lakes areas. In Europe, there was a good market for furs, while in
America there were seemingly limitless numbers of fur-bearing animals,
especially beavers.
Europeans offered the American Indians a line of goods which included iron
axes, tomahawks, knives, eye-hoes, awls, fish
hooks, trade cloth of various colors, woolen blankets, linen shirts, brass
kettles, trade silver jewelry, assorted glass beads, and guns and powder.
James Smith 1755

From his personal Journal

after capture and adoption into
the tribe of the Caughnawagas,
Smith was given a Wool
Blanket, Skunk Pouch of
Tobacco and Sumac, Flint,
Steel, Punk wood, and a
Tomahawk. He was later given
a Trade gun which was taken
from him for foolishness,
reducing him to Bow and
Arrow for almost 2 years.
EARLY AMERICAN SUSTAINABILITY
Rev Joseph Doddridge 1763-83
EARLY AMERICAN SUSTAINABILITY
Rev Joseph Doddridge 1763-83
EARLY AMERICAN SUSTAINABILITY
Rev Joseph Doddridge 1763-83
EARLY AMERICAN SUSTAINABILITY
 PAST LISTS AND LEDGERS
Aug 4 1768
 PAST LISTS AND LEDGERS
Sep 1768
LEWIS AND CLARK
 LEDGERS

Lewis and Clark

1803
 LEDGERS

Lewis and Clark

1803
 TRADE GOODS FOR INDIANS
12 pipe hawks 48 butcher knives
132 knives 6.5 lbs. sheet iron
12 needle cases 8 brass kettles @ 2.5 lbs each
brass strips (12 lbs) 2 corn mills
180 pair scissors brass wire (12 lbs)
knitting needles (14 lbs) 2800 assorted forged fish hooks
144 pocket mirrors (glass) 180 pocket mirrors (pewter)
96 burning glasses 144 iron combs
432 curtain rings 288 assorted thimbles
2 cards beads (?) 3 lbs beads
73 bunches assorted beads 6 bunches large red garnet beads
62 bunches brown beads 10 bunches yellow beads
25 bunches white beads 10 bunches smaller blue, yellow,
white (each)
8.5 lbs red beads several yards trade cloth (red,
blue)
Chiefs Coats powdered vermillion
JOHN GOULD CIVIL WAR SOLDIER
GOULD ON KIT ITEMS 1877
GOULD ON KIT ITEMS 1877
 NESSMUK
George Washington
Sears (December 2, 1821
– May 1, 1890) was a
sportswriter for Forest
and Stream magazine in
the 1880s and an early
conservationist. His
stories, appearing under
the pen name,
"Nessmuk" popularized
self-guided canoe
camping tours of the
Adirondack lakes in
open, lightweight solo
canoes and what is
today called ultra-light
camping.
 NESSMUK’S KIT
Ditty Bag
He states that it is 4 inches by 6 inches
in size. It contains a dozen hooks, four
lines of six yards each, three darning
needles and a few common needles,
dozen buttons, sewing silk, thread, ball
of yarn, sticking salve, shoemaker’s
wax, beeswax, sinkers, a file for
sharpening hooks, a vial of fly
medicine, a vial of pain killer, and two
or three gangs of hooks on brass wire
snells, water-proof match safe, strings,
compass, bits of linen and scarlet
flannel (for frogging), copper tacks, and
other light duffle.
 NESSMUK’S KIT

Cooking Gear:

The cooking gear comprises of

five pieces of tin ware. The
largest one seems to be a 2
quart kettle, along with a
number of smaller nesting
dishes. The total weight
provided by Sears is 2 lb.
 NESSMUK’S KIT

Nessmuk fancied fishing very

much the fishing equipment
that Sears used seems varied
as would be expected from
any fisherman. As an
example, one of the rods he
lists, weighs 5oz according to
him. In several places he
speaks of his muzzle loading
rifle as well.
 DULUTH PACK
The Holy Grail! (of the backpack
world.) French-Canadian Camille
Poirier arrived in Duluth, Minnesota
in 1870, set up a leather working
shop, and soon after designed this
Poirier Pack Sack. Featuring new-
fangled strap designs, leather-based
supports, and a "tumpline" strap,
which goes around your forehead in
order to lessen the weight on your
back. Poirier patented his design in
1882, and riveted a little brass plaque
on each pack. Basically, the Poirier
Pack Sack is the great-great-grand
pappy of all modern backpacks.
In 1911 Poirier sold his company to
the Duluth Tent & Awning Co., after
which the bags were called Duluth
Packs.
BOOK OF CAMPING 1917
 HORACE KEPHART

Horace Kephart (1862–1931)

was an American travel
writer and librarian, best
known as the author of Our
Southern Highlanders, about
his life in the Great Smoky
Mountains of western North
Carolina. As well as Camping
and Woodcraft Published in
1917
HORACE KEPHART
 KEPHART’S KIT

Horace Kephart 1917

HOMER HALSTED 1948
HOMER HALSTED FISHING
HOMER HALSTED 1948
 Sustainability-

Only through the testing of Kit and Dirt time can we truly realize the merits of
our chosen kit items, understanding the Minimum for Survival allows us to
carry the Maximum for Sustainability- The 10 C’s + Hunting, Fishing, and
Trapping. This along with our ability to create, re-create, repair, and rework
needed items is the key to long term sustainability.