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ABOUT 

The Bulletin of Primitive Technology

1990 - Because of the rapidly rising interest in primitive technology among technologically advanced peoples, both avocationally and vocationally, the time came for a publication to be created to help mobilize this interest and promote the advancement of study in the fields of Primitive Technology and Experimental Archaeology.  Accordingly, in Nov. of  1988, a proposal for an organization to be formed

the following year was distributed to national leaders in the field.  In November of 1989 a meeting of these leaders was held (at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, NC), a Board of Directors was created, and a Society was formed.  A statement of purpose was drafted and a means proposed for implementation of the society’s goals. It included incorporating with non-profit status and the creation of four publications, The Bulletin of Primitive Technology, the short-lived Primitive Technology Newsletter and our books Primitive Technology I: A Book of Earthskills, and Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skills. The Board of Directors and its appointees were the ones responsible for implement ion.

 

2013 - The Board of Directors of the Society of Primitive Technology voted to disband the organization. In an effort to keep the tradition of primitive technology and experimental archaeology going in the U.S., it was decided to help formalize a new organization and support the ongoing

 

Reconstructive and Experimental Archaeology Conferences as well as the operations of the Bulletin of Primitive Technology. As a result, the Society of Experimental Archaeology and Primitive Technology (SEAPT) was born. SEAPT has assumed the 501c3 status of the SPT and will continue to host the REARC conference. There are also plans to create a professional organization similar to what the SPT provided.

 

2015 - After 25 years, The Bulletin of Primitive Technology  is no longer publishing new issues - #50 was the final issue. However, under the management of David and Paula Wescott at Backtracks, longtime publishers of the Bulletin, back issues of the Society's entire catalog are still available for purchase at primitive.org.  Sales are brisk, and the Bulletin is still in high demand worldwide.

If you have any questions about the Bulletin or the Society of Primitive Technology, or the future of the Society of Experimental Archaeology and Primitive Technology feel free to contact the Backtracks offices at 208-359-2400. Or write us at PO Box 905, Rexburg, ID 83440. You can also e-mail us.

Conceptual art for the original Bulletin of Primitive Technology layout by David Callahan, 1990. 

For more history, download your free copy of Bulletin of Primitive Technology #1 and all 3 Primitive Technology Newsletters, click on "Electronic Editions."

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