Ideas for woodcraft from nomadic peoples.
by Angus, 20 September, 2017, 2 comments
In Siberia, there are some indigenous peoples who continue to live as they have for hundreds or thousands of years. One such is the Evenks, who are nomadic and live off reindeer (both domesticated and wild) and they build a teepee-shaped houses out of wood and cover it in skins. When they move on they take the skins with them. They also have other clever innovations with could provide inspiration for the British woodland owner, such as a “fridge” built high up so as to be out of reach of animals, and they have clever animal traps made with logs. Some of these seem to be intended to crush the animal and others to trap it (images below).
One tradition they have is that instead of burning their dead or cremating them they leave them on high platforms so that the corpse can be eaten by birds. This particular idea may be less useful to the British woodsman and might even be frowned upon, especially in the Home Counties. Read more...
