Peg Mathewson

Peg is a graduate student of the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Ethnobotany, Art, and Anthropology of Native America. The daughter of two professors of Anthropology, she has been exposed to her chosen field all her life and has studied with traditional California basket weavers for eight years. Peg teaches primitive skills in the San Francisco area and in Oregon and has attended many primitive expeditions both as a student and instructor. In addition to her skill as a basketmaker, she is an outstanding craftsperson in many areas of the aboriginal lifestyle.

Larry Dean Olsen

Larry is the author of the best-selling book, Outdoor Survival Skills and the originator of the award-winning “480” 30-day survival trek at Brigham Young University. He has been a pioneer in instigating primitive survival courses as an effective rehabilitation program in the United States. Larry has lectured and taught primitive survival throughout the nation and is currently Chairman of the Board of “Anasazi,” a program for troubled youth that emphasizes the primitive lifestyle as a means to build self-esteem.

Jim Riggs

Jim has a degree in anthropology and conducted aboriginal life skill courses and workshops for sixteen years at the Malheur Field Station in Oregon. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Primitive Technology and is a regular contributor to the Bulletin of Primitive Technology. An expert craftsman, he has contributed many replicas to the High Desert Museum in Oregon. Jim is also a talented writer, photographer and illustrator; he is the author of Blue Mountain Buckskin as well as many published magazine articles and was the primitive skills trainer for the popular film Clan of the Cave Bear. Jim currently resides near Wallowa, Oregon.

Steve Watts

Steve directs the Southeastern Native American Studies program at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina and is a founding board member of the Society of Primitive Technology. Steve’s interests range from Upper Paleolithic Europe to the aboriginal peoples of Africa and the Pacific. He teaches aboriginal skills courses throughout the United States. His replicas of prehistoric tools and weapons are on display or in experimental use at more than a dozen museums in the Southeast and Gulf regions. Steve received his undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University and a master’s degree from Duke University.

David Wescott

Dave was a pioneer in primitive outdoor education and is a superb craftsman and seasoned outdoorsman. He was a student of Larry Dean Olsen’s early Youth Leadership-480 survival program and earned a degree in Youth Leadership from Brigham Young University. Subsequently, Dave worked with Outward Bound and now owns and operates Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS), a well-respected organization that has been in existence for many years to give people of all ages a chance to develop their self-confidence and outdoor skills. BOSS sponsors the annual “Rabbit Stick” primitive skills conference in Rexburg, Idaho. Dave is the editor of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology and a founding board member of the Society of Primitive Technology.

Tamara Wilder and Steven Edholm

Tamara and Steven have been experimenting with primitive living skills for about 5 years, much of which time was spent living in semi-primitive conditions. This time has given them a clear concept of how people might have lived before modern times. Their main occupations are tanning buckskin using the wet-scrape, brain tan method and instructing others in skills such as brain tanning and uses of the deer, cordage and net making, firemaking, flintknapping, basketry and plant uses. Tamara and Steven were originally exposed to the art of basketry by Margaret (Peg) Mathewson and have spent countless hours gathering materials and weaving baskets. Their basketwork is featured in an Imax film titled Tresure of the Gods, which is shown in the Zion Canyon Theater near Zion National Park in southern Utah. Each year Tamara and Steven take part in the Rabbit Stick Primitive Skills Conference in addition to teaching courses on the “old ways” for the Santa Cruz Mountain Natural History Association and the Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin, California.

Ernest Wilkinson

Ernest is an expert on animal behavior and an authority on winter survival techniques. He is a member of the Outdoor Writer’s Association and has authored many magazine articles on outdoor subjects as well as a book, Snow Caves for Fun and Survival. Ernie is also a professional wildlife photographer. Until recently, he and his wife, Margaret, raised mountain lions, badgers, wolves and other animals for filming. He was principal photographer for the film Cougar Country, which featured his own mountain lion, Tabby. A series of seven videos have recently been produced using his unique footage of wild animals. Ernie currently works as a taxidermist, government trapper, guide and survival instructor in Monte Vista, Colorado.

Margaret Wilkinson

Margaret is a woman of many talents with an impressive knowledge of the outdoors. She and her husband, Ernest, have lived and worked all their lives in the mountains that surround their home and business in Monte Vista, Colorado. Together, they conduct an annual primitive skills encampment which is attended by people from all over the United States and Europe. Margaret is a wild plant expert and operates a medicinal herb shop and conducts classes and workshops on a variety of outdoor educational subjects. She also designs and sews leather garments for customers throughout the country in conjunction with their taxidermy business.

Linda Jamison

Our Human Family

Understanding Our Ancient Ancestors

What can a people so removed from our world teach us? And does it matter that our conception of our ancient ancestors is correct? I think it matters a great deal. We can’t even begin to tackle constructively the multiple, interlocking problems threatening our species and our planet today without some grasp of who and what we are, how we got that way and what does or does not work for us.

The same age-old questions have plagued humanity since we were first capable of cognitive thinking: “Who are we, where did we come from and where are we going?” I maintain that some of the answers to those questions lie in our ancient past. By studying who we were, we can learn who we are. In learning about our early cousins—their environment, their moral structure, their lifestyle—we will make genealogical attachments. Then we can take the decisive step toward experiencing that lifestyle, and having experienced it, we will be qualified to speculate on the reasons for their failures and successes and convey those lessons to our modern world.

I have been on the ancient trail. It was a learning experience that changed my life forever. I remember seeing things for the first time-familiar things, but from a different perspective. I saw a fire up close because I was on my knees blowing for all I was worth to turn a small glowing coal to flame. I saw water with my nose buried in a small pool as I slurped up as much as I could hold to tide me over to the next water source. I saw little creatures swimming in the bottom of those pools. I saw the stars without the interference of city lights and smog. I saw food as something to give me energy and stamina, not simply something to occupy my time and satisfy my cravings. I saw animal life as a lesson instead of an intrusion. I saw relationships in terms of giving and sharing and teaching. I saw life as valuable . . . all life.