ANR 117: A Blast from the Past

Dr. Gary Neil Douglas, nutritionist and professor for the Agriculture and Natural Resources department, and his student tribe of 18 members focused this short term on the primitive arts, technology, and survival skills of the Native Americans. The inspiration, Dr. Douglas said, originated in childhood: “My mother and grandmother would always visit these historical sites and it was so fascinating to me.” In 1990, Dr. Douglas truly realized his love for history while studying Anthropology at the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate. In 2000, as a graduate student, Dr. Douglas made his very first pump drill.

The pump drill, as he explains, is a primitive tool made for drilling holes in soft objects such as pulpy wood, fibers, or even bone. It can also, be used to create fire! This tool, and many others, were both created and utilized by Dr. Douglas’s students in this course using materials that were as authentic as possible. Even the bailing twine pilfered from the farm was unwound and rewrapped so that students could experience, hands-on, what the natives had to do to create rope. The cordage was originally made of basswood bark, but for the purpose of convenience and due to a lack of time and resources, Dr. Douglas collected bailing twine from the farm. He required students to unravel the twine and re-ravel it to create their own cordage for their bows. In fact, he required them to do many things that required such patience.

For many a morning during short term, loud clacking could be heard from every floor of the Agriculture building. The noise was coming from the next phase of the Douglas tribe’s project, the hammer and axe. Students (loudly!) repeatedly and tediously banged together various rocks to create just the ride edge and just the right indention to make a primitive hammer and axe. “Pick the wrong materials and you will almost always fail,” Douglas tells his class during a presentation. Students were taught to apply the concept of trial and error to their hard work and though they often experienced frustration, Dr. Douglas impressed the mantra, “You can do it! Have patience!”

Students also got to make an atlatl which Dr. Douglas calls “a primitive bow and arrow from the Aztec.” It is a dart-thrower, if you will, that was used to kill mastodons and mammoths during the earliest centuries in America. This was a course favorite. Groups of throwers, like wild natives, took aim and fired at a few misfortunate cardboard boxes 10-20 feet away. It was freezing outside that day, but students created only small and manageable fires.

As you might imagine, these tools were effective in spite of their raw and crude nature, so they could be very dangerous. Dr. Douglas consistently emphasized safety—first. Before students got their hands on any materials, they learned about the cultural history of the natives and then knife and fire safety. Class materials included a serrated utility knife and part of the course was to learn how to make and keep a fire. It was his hope, Dr. Douglas said, that his third time teaching this class would keep the record of no serious injuries. When asked if this class was in keeping with the past, he said, “So far. We had somebody get a paper cut so bad it bled, but that’s about it.”

“The most rewarding part about it,” said Gean Majewsky, “is that now I know if I’m out in the woods, I have what I need to make a fire for myself.” These are skills that Dr. Douglas says “will live on as long as these kids keep it alive.” Student Zachary Sieban goes camping “almost every weekend.” He said, in reference to using the skills in the future, that “it’s nice to know you could do it if you had to.” Students get to keep all the materials they used in the course. This will help them to keep the traditions alive so that they can pass the knowledge on to others, for the gifts that they are, like Douglas did to them.

-Maggie Greene ‘08