ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY & TRADITIONS LINKS

MINERAL IDENTIFICATION AND ANCIENT MINING TECHNIQUES

If you want to identify a certain gemstone, the Gem Hut might be a good place to look.

You might find the mineral you're looking to identify from this mineral gallery.

Learn about chalcedony and how early people used it here.

Visit the Great Orme Mines, where copper was mined thousands of years ago in Wales.

ANCIENT METALLURGY FOR STUDENTS

Working with copper from the University of Nevada, Reno

Metallurgy Notes from Mr. Larry Jones, D.W. Daniel High School

Watch sculptor David Chapman craft a bronze axe using ancient methods.

Visit this site on a film about some of the last living Dogon blacksmiths, as they smelt iron from a traditional furnace.

An introduction to Ancient Metallurgy by David K. Jordan, UC San Diego

Metallurgy and other ancient technologies at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.

The Bronze Age in the British Isles

A Short History of Metals from Alan Cramb at Carnegie Mellon University

See examples of early arsenic-bronze mace heads, crowns, and other 5,500 year old artefacts from found hidden near the Dead Sea in The Cave of the Treasure.

DRAWING, PAINTING, DYES, ART, AND ORNAMENTATION

Here's a page of links to the art of ancient civilizations. Be warned: it's easy to get lost here!

A beautiful look at ancient North American rock art.

Look at the menu on the left to guide you to examples of other rock art images.

Learn about red ochre and links to other pigments of the world, both old and new, used to make paint of all colors.

Take a spin through the Color Museum's interactive site on natural dyes and dying. Use the numbers at the top to navigate through the site to the different pages. The animated circle on page three will take you to a map of where the listed natural dyestuffs are native. Pretty cool, huh?

Read about native dye plants of the United States by Kathy Ogg

Read about the history of natural dyes in this article by Kris Driessen

And check out this timeline of dye history, compiled by Susan Druding

Here are some basic recipes for earth tones using vegetable dyestuffs

The Joy of Handspinning has posted this list of dyestuffs, with the colors they produce

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has compiled a great series of articles on dyes, including lichen dyes. This is serious reading, but very informative.

If you're wondering why a lightfast, colorfast purple was reserved for royalty since the time of the Roman emperors, check here for a short article or here for a longer one.

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS

A short introduction to the earliest found human remains: Lucy.

EXPLORING THE EARTH'S BIOMES (BIOCLIMACTIC ZONES)

Learn about the Earth's biomes which link from this map at Blue Planet Biomes.org.

Here is the index for the Blue Planet Biomes site.

I love this beautiful site on the ecology of the Tropical Rain Forests. It includes many interesting and culturally important tropical flora on pages eight and nine.

TIMELINES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES & CIVILIZATION

Although this is at a science fiction site, the timeline looks quite good.

CULTURE & SOCIETY IN GENERAL

What is Culture? Responses from Palomar Community College, Kelley E. Friel

Elements of Culture listed at the National University of Singapore

Visible and invisible aspects to culture: a test to get you thinking, produced by the Peace Corps.

Washington State University gives us a baseline defininition of culture

INDIGINOUS CULTURES & SOCIETIES

History of the Coast Miwok, natives of Marin County

A profile of the Zulu Nation written by students in South Africa

TRADITIONAL CLOTHING & SHELTER

Coming Soon!

SHAMANISM

This site has an excellent overview of shamanism and many interesting links about shamanism as practiced around the world.

Read about the powers of Tlingit Shamans

Here's Wikipedia's definition of Shamanism. Investigate the various links there to learn about powers traditionally attrributed to shamans.

Here's a statement about shamanism from the Huichol Indians of central Mexico.

Here's a general overview of shamanism, with questions and answers that you might have.

BOAT BUILDING MATERIALS, STYLES & TECHNIQUES

Coming Soon!

THE PREHISTORIC VILLAGE

Coming Soon!

MATHEMATICS IN ANTIQUITY

Could ancient Babylonians calculate square roots? You Bet! The University of British Columbia shows you the artefacts!

PREHISTORIC MEGAFAUNA LINKS

Here's a great visual overview to many interesting extinct megafauna. Most of the links at this site have, however, expired.