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Primitive Technology is really interesting. This guy is super good at it : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA https://www.youtube.com/cha

Primitive Technology is really interesting. This guy is super good at it : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA He's trying to get iron smelted right now, but that's really hard. It seems the problem the Lykovs ran into was that their metal items rusted after a while and they couldn't repair them. It's really hard to live without pots, and knives.

betolink 10y ago
I'm a fan of these videos! if I get stranded on an Island my only hope is to have enough battery and this guy's videos on a usb drive =)
- StavrosK 10y ago
  "I'm gonna starve to death, but at least I won't get bored!"
  - jshmrsn 10y ago
    I think the point is that if you have this guy's videos, you would be able to teach yourself how to survive and not starve to death.
    - betolink 10y ago
      you got it.
    - kornish 10y ago
      I think the joke was that you'd probably starve to death before learning enough to survive from this guy's videos.
      - zdkl 10y ago
        I couldn't begin to identify half the deposits he needs, let alone operate a DIY ore furnace. Stone age tools for me! And assuming you assimilate the tips about procuring food you still require some measure of cooperation from the environment in any case!
      - StavrosK 10y ago
        Yep. Not to mention that the guy makes it look easy, which means that he must have lots of experience with it.
- rusanu 10y ago
  The first video would be one that would show you how a large battery and a USB drive are not enough for survival, if only you would have something to watch the video on :)
T0T0R0 10y ago
The best part about that guy is the total absence of spoken language. But, then, the source of the iron is also pretty incredible: Then I collected orange iron bacteria from the creek (iron oxide), mixed it with charcoal powder (carbon to reduce oxide to metal) and wood ash (flux to lower the melting point) and formed it into a cylindrical brick. I filled the furnace with charcoal, put the ore brick in and commenced firing. The ore brick melted and produced slag with tiny, 1mm sized specs of iron through it. My intent was not so much to make iron but to show that the furnace can reach a fairly high temperature using this blower.
- shostack 10y ago
  The really impressive feat is how humanity figured that out to begin with.
- 13of40 10y ago
  Sometimes you can find it just lying around on the ground: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_meteorite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_meteorite http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2909898/Before-iron-Greenland-METEORITE-Age-Prehistoric-Eskimos-mined-giant-space-rocks-make-tools-weapons.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2909898/Befor...
- rusanu 10y ago
  Bog iron [0] production was the predominant way of smelting iron before technology advanced to the point of being able to smelt iron ores. Iron Production in the Viking Age [1] has a really nice description and pictures of the process. This kind of smelting can be done with a small bloomery [2] and the resulted tiny iron specs result is called sponge iron. I wish Dwarf Fortress would implement this chain for environs that lack proper iron ores :) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron [1] http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery
  - zdkl 10y ago
tmptmp 10y ago
A very humbling experience, great videos and great efforts. I wonder, how many years (centuries) might have gone into inventing, discovering and perfecting even this "primitive" technology. Not to undermine his efforts, but this guy could do all this "so fast" mostly because he is working in a rather comfortable and secure environment of modern and more civilized times, whereas the real primitives had to look out for predators (lions, tigers, etc), for other human attackers and so on. Kudos to this guy and more kudos to all those anonymous primitive hackers who created such an incredible technology. Lesson to take: I should stop complaining about those little inconveniences and discomforts I encounter in my modern life.
- duaneb 10y ago
  > the real primitives had to look out for predators (lions, tigers, etc), for other human attackers and so on. I'm not sure what you're imagining pre-history to be like, but humans are generally the top of every food chain. It's also very rarely worth it to attack another human without desired resources. The big risk in Eurasia would be wolves, who would have to be very hungry. Non-pack animals usually are a threat when sleeping or to children, not an awake adult who can, well, walk away or climb a tree. Point is: you're much more likely to die from starvation, infection, or disease while pursuing technology. Time was a major issue: any time not spent feeding yourself had better help you feed yourself later.
  - seanmcdirmid 10y ago
    Before agriculture they didn't have this security, and spent most of their time foraging anyways. It is no coincidence that technology evolves much faster after the beginning of agriculture.
    - gbin 10y ago
      It is actually a fun fact when you think about the recent popularity of the Paleo diet and the anti-gluten sentiment.
    - duaneb 10y ago
grecy 10y ago
I live in the Yukon - when we are out Moose hunting in the fall we often wonder if we could survive the winter if we flipped our canoe with nothing more than we have with us. Every time this article comes up, I have two questions I've never found a satisfactory answer to: 1. How did they light fires? 2. How did they cook and boil water? From experience pots and pans fail after much less than 40 years.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  For 1. I'd assume they kept the fire going, since the need to cook and boil food was constant. I've read somewhere as a kid that prehistoric people who discovered fire kept it going round the clock since it was more convenient to always have a light source and warmth on demand and wood is generally plentiful enough.
  - grecy 10y ago
    I'm assuming that too, but man, keeping a fire going all summer would be a lot of effort!

betolink 10y ago

I'm a fan of these videos! if I get stranded on an Island my only hope is to have enough battery and this guy's videos on a usb drive =)

StavrosK 10y ago
"I'm gonna starve to death, but at least I won't get bored!"
- jshmrsn 10y ago
  I think the point is that if you have this guy's videos, you would be able to teach yourself how to survive and not starve to death.
  - betolink 10y ago
    you got it.
  - kornish 10y ago
    I think the joke was that you'd probably starve to death before learning enough to survive from this guy's videos.
    - zdkl 10y ago
      I couldn't begin to identify half the deposits he needs, let alone operate a DIY ore furnace. Stone age tools for me! And assuming you assimilate the tips about procuring food you still require some measure of cooperation from the environment in any case!
    - StavrosK 10y ago
      Yep. Not to mention that the guy makes it look easy, which means that he must have lots of experience with it.
rusanu 10y ago
The first video would be one that would show you how a large battery and a USB drive are not enough for survival, if only you would have something to watch the video on :)

T0T0R0 10y ago

The best part about that guy is the total absence of spoken language. But, then, the source of the iron is also pretty incredible: Then I collected orange iron bacteria from the creek (iron oxide), mixed it with charcoal powder (carbon to reduce oxide to metal) and wood ash (flux to lower the melting point) and formed it into a cylindrical brick. I filled the furnace with charcoal, put the ore brick in and commenced firing. The ore brick melted and produced slag with tiny, 1mm sized specs of iron through it. My intent was not so much to make iron but to show that the furnace can reach a fairly high temperature using this blower.

shostack 10y ago
The really impressive feat is how humanity figured that out to begin with.
13of40 10y ago
Sometimes you can find it just lying around on the ground: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_meteorite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_meteorite http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2909898/Before-iron-Greenland-METEORITE-Age-Prehistoric-Eskimos-mined-giant-space-rocks-make-tools-weapons.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2909898/Befor...
rusanu 10y ago
Bog iron [0] production was the predominant way of smelting iron before technology advanced to the point of being able to smelt iron ores. Iron Production in the Viking Age [1] has a really nice description and pictures of the process. This kind of smelting can be done with a small bloomery [2] and the resulted tiny iron specs result is called sponge iron. I wish Dwarf Fortress would implement this chain for environs that lack proper iron ores :) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron [1] http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomery
- zdkl 10y ago

tmptmp 10y ago

A very humbling experience, great videos and great efforts. I wonder, how many years (centuries) might have gone into inventing, discovering and perfecting even this "primitive" technology. Not to undermine his efforts, but this guy could do all this "so fast" mostly because he is working in a rather comfortable and secure environment of modern and more civilized times, whereas the real primitives had to look out for predators (lions, tigers, etc), for other human attackers and so on. Kudos to this guy and more kudos to all those anonymous primitive hackers who created such an incredible technology. Lesson to take: I should stop complaining about those little inconveniences and discomforts I encounter in my modern life.

duaneb 10y ago
> the real primitives had to look out for predators (lions, tigers, etc), for other human attackers and so on. I'm not sure what you're imagining pre-history to be like, but humans are generally the top of every food chain. It's also very rarely worth it to attack another human without desired resources. The big risk in Eurasia would be wolves, who would have to be very hungry. Non-pack animals usually are a threat when sleeping or to children, not an awake adult who can, well, walk away or climb a tree. Point is: you're much more likely to die from starvation, infection, or disease while pursuing technology. Time was a major issue: any time not spent feeding yourself had better help you feed yourself later.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  Before agriculture they didn't have this security, and spent most of their time foraging anyways. It is no coincidence that technology evolves much faster after the beginning of agriculture.
  - gbin 10y ago
    It is actually a fun fact when you think about the recent popularity of the Paleo diet and the anti-gluten sentiment.
  - duaneb 10y ago

grecy 10y ago

I live in the Yukon - when we are out Moose hunting in the fall we often wonder if we could survive the winter if we flipped our canoe with nothing more than we have with us. Every time this article comes up, I have two questions I've never found a satisfactory answer to: 1. How did they light fires? 2. How did they cook and boil water? From experience pots and pans fail after much less than 40 years.

antisthenes 10y ago
For 1. I'd assume they kept the fire going, since the need to cook and boil food was constant. I've read somewhere as a kid that prehistoric people who discovered fire kept it going round the clock since it was more convenient to always have a light source and warmth on demand and wood is generally plentiful enough.
- grecy 10y ago
  I'm assuming that too, but man, keeping a fire going all summer would be a lot of effort!