Ahead of the second series of Channel 5 historical reality show "10,000 BC" - "10,000 BC: Two Tribes" - which starts tonight and which follows 24 British people from all walks of life as they go back to the conditions of the Stone Age and try to survive two months in the wilderness, the Telegraph's Simon James finds out what it's like to live as a Stone Age man...
This is what it's like to live as a Stone Age man
Simon James gets into character Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
By Simon James
20 January 2016
The Telegraph
“I’m going to try to go the whole weekend without looking at my phone.” “I’m giving up Facebook for New Year.” “Why don’t we try getting there without using Google maps?” We like to kid ourselves that we can survive without modern hi-tech comforts, but how would we cope in reality?
Our society's reliance on technology is just one way in which we have become removed from our human roots – how did anyone ever cope without the ability to shop for food online, or find a mate without swiping through a hook-up app? Not to mention our other creature comforts like central heating, flushing loos and freshly brewed coffee.
To get back to basics, I travelled to Oxford to meet survival instructor Klint Janulis. Ex-special forces, Klint is currently completing a Prehistoric Archaeology doctorate at Oxford. He is also the official consultant for Channel 5’s social experiment series 10,000 BC, the second series of which starts on January 20.
I got to visit a recreation of the set, where Klint and fellow archaeologists spend most of their time: A secluded wood with a camp fire, grass hut and hole for a toilet… if this couldn’t awaken my inbuilt survival instincts, nothing could.
A Stone Age man's hut is his castle Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
And awaken they did, along with every other part of me, when I got into my Stone Age clothing: a fetching combo of hide and furs. Don’t let the fluff deceive – it felt like I’d gone back to the Ice Age, not the Stone Age. I made that joke and someone promptly told me that the periods overlap anyway. Bloody academics.
Thankfully the grass hut was a good shelter. It had a small fire which made things so cosy I didn’t want to leave, and a clever ventilation system including a rack above your head for keeping meat warm. Manse Ahmad from Wilderness Pioneers manufactured the tools for 10,000 BC and built this shelter. He explained that there is evidence of similar shelters in the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age) – holes can still be found in the ground where the structural posts were. He believes that the shelters were permanently erected and used seasonally, like a Mesolithic holiday home.
After eating some crayfish (and being a bit disappointed about the small amount of such a large crustacean that’s actually edible), the team showed me how to make cordage, something they refer to as a "gateway technology". It’s essentially rope, and is made by threading multiple strands of a material (we used red cedar bark) together to increase their durability far beyond that of the original strands.
Stone Age suppertime Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
It takes only a couple of minutes to get to grips with the technique (which I’m told was not dissimilar to plaiting, but decidedly gender neutral), and suddenly it starts to feel pretty therapeutic – more so than the modern "Facebook scroll" which takes only slightly less effort. But making cordage isn’t just a pastime, it’s incredibly useful. Klint lives by the mantra “cordage is king”, and explained how in the prehistoric era it would have been vital for everything – bow-strings, clothing, fishing lines, snares, shoes, shelters… anything that needs building needs cordage.
Willow was another plant they got some use out of: I was shown how a Paleolithic individual would have used it to construct baskets for trapping fish. I took a slightly alternative option and made a wreath for my parents’ door. The team also showed me how to clean my teeth using willow – snap a small branch, splay out the centre, and there’s your brush. It sounds a bit suspect now, but the prehistoric man in me must have been stirring – at the time it felt more of a natural cleaning process than using a paste with bright red and blue stripes in.
Before I knew it though, a red paste had covered the end of my toothbrush, which was now doubling as a paint brush. We were creating Stone Age art on the back of a rabbit skin, using red ochre in the paint mix. Klint has researched into ancient art practices and recognises that “art is a part of human existence. We feel compelled to leave our mark.” The mouth which produced this wisdom proceeded to spit charcoal over a rabbit skin to create a splattering effect. A versatile man to say the least.
Simon tries his hand at Stone Age art Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
It was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable experience, but as darkness arrived and it started to rain, I was ready for a swift pint and the comfort of my own bed. If I’d had enough after one day, how did the twenty-four 10,000 BC participants cope, having lived like this for two months in their two separate tribes?
Klint said that when the series airs, we will soon notice that leaders of both tribes are the antithesis of each other: He labelled pub landlord John a chauvinist, recalling times when he would say “tidy the camp, woman!” in front of the camera. However, he clearly respects John and does not consider his leadership style to be malicious – Klint takes the attitude that “people are people” and said “you can just see why some personalities are more successful than others.” It seems that Suzanne, leader of the other tribe, fitted that description.
Suzanne is a retired A&E consultant. Klint described her as a "badass”, and explained that her tribe benefited hugely from her intelligent approach to things. She strategised food from very early on, encouraged everyone to share skills and moved her whole tribe to shelter next to a lake because it was full of crayfish. Klint told me that the contrast between the tribes sheds light on gender stereotypes; an “eye-opener” for perceptions of roles in both the Stone Age and the present day. A pleasing development – I felt the responsibility slowly start to shift from my male shoulders as I put down my cordage and had some venison.
Simon's willow wreath Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
Klint stressed that social experiments such as this can often be illuminating – “people don’t always fare as you would expect”. For example, I would have predicted the most muscular bloke would have been the most successful. However, after my day in the camp it now seems obvious that a body like that needs much more energy to be efficient, meaning more food needs to be found, which takes up more of the tribe’s energy… a recurring cycle. I soon realised that in an environment such as this there is an economy of calories – Klint told me of how he ultimately had to tell one well-built participant to stop doing push-ups because he was using up his tribe’s resources, and that made him a “calorie thief.”
Klint promised there are many more insights to come from the show. I’m going to try and be honest with myself about how I’d have coped as I watch it… in bed with a nice warm brew.
10,000 BC: Two Tribes will air at 10pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays on Channel 5, starting January 20
This is what it's like to live as a Stone Age man
This is what it's like to live as a Stone Age man
Simon James gets into character Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
By Simon James
20 January 2016
The Telegraph
“I’m going to try to go the whole weekend without looking at my phone.” “I’m giving up Facebook for New Year.” “Why don’t we try getting there without using Google maps?” We like to kid ourselves that we can survive without modern hi-tech comforts, but how would we cope in reality?
Our society's reliance on technology is just one way in which we have become removed from our human roots – how did anyone ever cope without the ability to shop for food online, or find a mate without swiping through a hook-up app? Not to mention our other creature comforts like central heating, flushing loos and freshly brewed coffee.
To get back to basics, I travelled to Oxford to meet survival instructor Klint Janulis. Ex-special forces, Klint is currently completing a Prehistoric Archaeology doctorate at Oxford. He is also the official consultant for Channel 5’s social experiment series 10,000 BC, the second series of which starts on January 20.
I got to visit a recreation of the set, where Klint and fellow archaeologists spend most of their time: A secluded wood with a camp fire, grass hut and hole for a toilet… if this couldn’t awaken my inbuilt survival instincts, nothing could.
A Stone Age man's hut is his castle Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
And awaken they did, along with every other part of me, when I got into my Stone Age clothing: a fetching combo of hide and furs. Don’t let the fluff deceive – it felt like I’d gone back to the Ice Age, not the Stone Age. I made that joke and someone promptly told me that the periods overlap anyway. Bloody academics.
Thankfully the grass hut was a good shelter. It had a small fire which made things so cosy I didn’t want to leave, and a clever ventilation system including a rack above your head for keeping meat warm. Manse Ahmad from Wilderness Pioneers manufactured the tools for 10,000 BC and built this shelter. He explained that there is evidence of similar shelters in the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age) – holes can still be found in the ground where the structural posts were. He believes that the shelters were permanently erected and used seasonally, like a Mesolithic holiday home.
After eating some crayfish (and being a bit disappointed about the small amount of such a large crustacean that’s actually edible), the team showed me how to make cordage, something they refer to as a "gateway technology". It’s essentially rope, and is made by threading multiple strands of a material (we used red cedar bark) together to increase their durability far beyond that of the original strands.
Stone Age suppertime Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
It takes only a couple of minutes to get to grips with the technique (which I’m told was not dissimilar to plaiting, but decidedly gender neutral), and suddenly it starts to feel pretty therapeutic – more so than the modern "Facebook scroll" which takes only slightly less effort. But making cordage isn’t just a pastime, it’s incredibly useful. Klint lives by the mantra “cordage is king”, and explained how in the prehistoric era it would have been vital for everything – bow-strings, clothing, fishing lines, snares, shoes, shelters… anything that needs building needs cordage.
Willow was another plant they got some use out of: I was shown how a Paleolithic individual would have used it to construct baskets for trapping fish. I took a slightly alternative option and made a wreath for my parents’ door. The team also showed me how to clean my teeth using willow – snap a small branch, splay out the centre, and there’s your brush. It sounds a bit suspect now, but the prehistoric man in me must have been stirring – at the time it felt more of a natural cleaning process than using a paste with bright red and blue stripes in.
Before I knew it though, a red paste had covered the end of my toothbrush, which was now doubling as a paint brush. We were creating Stone Age art on the back of a rabbit skin, using red ochre in the paint mix. Klint has researched into ancient art practices and recognises that “art is a part of human existence. We feel compelled to leave our mark.” The mouth which produced this wisdom proceeded to spit charcoal over a rabbit skin to create a splattering effect. A versatile man to say the least.
Simon tries his hand at Stone Age art Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
It was an incredibly interesting and enjoyable experience, but as darkness arrived and it started to rain, I was ready for a swift pint and the comfort of my own bed. If I’d had enough after one day, how did the twenty-four 10,000 BC participants cope, having lived like this for two months in their two separate tribes?
Klint said that when the series airs, we will soon notice that leaders of both tribes are the antithesis of each other: He labelled pub landlord John a chauvinist, recalling times when he would say “tidy the camp, woman!” in front of the camera. However, he clearly respects John and does not consider his leadership style to be malicious – Klint takes the attitude that “people are people” and said “you can just see why some personalities are more successful than others.” It seems that Suzanne, leader of the other tribe, fitted that description.
Suzanne is a retired A&E consultant. Klint described her as a "badass”, and explained that her tribe benefited hugely from her intelligent approach to things. She strategised food from very early on, encouraged everyone to share skills and moved her whole tribe to shelter next to a lake because it was full of crayfish. Klint told me that the contrast between the tribes sheds light on gender stereotypes; an “eye-opener” for perceptions of roles in both the Stone Age and the present day. A pleasing development – I felt the responsibility slowly start to shift from my male shoulders as I put down my cordage and had some venison.
Simon's willow wreath Credit: JAMES GILLHAM/STING MEDIA
Klint stressed that social experiments such as this can often be illuminating – “people don’t always fare as you would expect”. For example, I would have predicted the most muscular bloke would have been the most successful. However, after my day in the camp it now seems obvious that a body like that needs much more energy to be efficient, meaning more food needs to be found, which takes up more of the tribe’s energy… a recurring cycle. I soon realised that in an environment such as this there is an economy of calories – Klint told me of how he ultimately had to tell one well-built participant to stop doing push-ups because he was using up his tribe’s resources, and that made him a “calorie thief.”
Klint promised there are many more insights to come from the show. I’m going to try and be honest with myself about how I’d have coped as I watch it… in bed with a nice warm brew.
10,000 BC: Two Tribes will air at 10pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays on Channel 5, starting January 20
This is what it's like to live as a Stone Age man
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