Surviving the Stoneage Channel 4

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,233
1,711
Vantaa, Finland
There whole idea is wrong, with real experts you don't get drama or very little. They should have thrown in couch potatoes if they wanted drama.
 
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Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,493
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kent
At least we did not have to watch 3 days of "how do I light a fire" ?
Think it would have been a different 1st episode if the team had a week to scout the area, pick up local knowledge and such beforehand.
This is made for TV, not the nit picking bunch we are !!!!!!
 
the show was recorded last year so yeah it would of been the stuff Theresa was workin at the moot
I enjoyed the show thoroughly but as Broch said, I'm reserving judgement to a certain degree. I'm giving the participants the benefit of the doubt for now because I believe that issues on the show may relate to interference from the production crew. Having heard the nonsense the Dual Survival crew got up to and knowing someone who appeared on the abomination that is Towie I know what goes on. Pretty sure they were trying to manufacture some tension when the guy stayed out hunting on his own. That's what ruins these shows.

It would be interesting to see when this was filmed because I remember Theresa was making water skins for a TV show at the last Bushmoot. @John Fenna was there at the time
At least we did not have to watch 3 days of "how do I light a fire" ?
Think it would have been a different 1st episode if the team had a week to scout the area, pick up local knowledge and such beforehand.
This is made for TV, not the nit picking bunch we are !!!!!!
100%agreed on all of this
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,464
8,343
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I still suspect production is overruling experience, skill and knowledge :(

I was disappointed with the shelter building considering they had such an abundance of good material for example. It was almost as if it was the first time some of them had tried making a natural shelter and we know that's not the case.
 
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Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,411
1,698
Cumbria
Would it have been more interesting if it was less about reality tv and more about the skills? I have not watched this but it seems to me that the production company wanted almost a kind of stoneage I'm a celebrity show or that one that made Ben Fogle's name, but the experts would be better suited to teaching the skills than putting on entertainment.
 
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Buckshot

Mod
Mod
Jan 19, 2004
6,471
352
Oxford
I was pleased to see Theresa more this episode. I thought she was missing from the first one.

I'm sure every person in there can make a perfect shelter.
The issue was time I think. The commentary said they only had 1.5 hrs daylight when they found the location.
Plus they had been surviving on starvation rations for a while, Dan was feeling crook and they just climbed a mountain!
Love the cave they found though
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,798
3,745
66
Exmoor
Having managed to get hold of a small tv for a couple of weeks, I got to watch the second episode.
I'm not sure what to make of it. How on earth can a months worth of this be condensed into three hour long programs and tell us what is really going on?
To be honest, so much will have been cut that would be of interest to us, as my experiences of filming with time team and a couple of other programs, including one with Johnny kingdom, tell me.
It's at least a bushcraft sort of fix. There is precious little of it on tv, one of the reasons I gave it up as I'm sick to death of supermarket sweep type programs!
I enjoyed it myself, but then I'm not going to nit pick about time frames and other filming constraints.
Shame I missed the first episode, but I'll be watching the rest with a determination to enjoy it, and not a little envy!
 
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Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,493
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kent
Liked episode2 much more then one. As for the shelter, yes time was against them, but I don't think they expected the rain to be that bad. From what little I saw it really did pour down. As they mentioned, you need a metre of cover to be waterproof, none came close to that.
While there was some good flintwork scenes and some comments on footwear I did not see much to separate this "Stone Age" from, say, 10 BC i.e. 2000 years ago. The only bit that comes to mind was the cutting down a small tree with a flint axe. Still looking forward to Ep3 mind.
 
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FerlasDave

Full Member
Jun 18, 2008
1,857
621
Off the beaten track
Is there a specific period they are simulating? Clearly not European Mesolithic, so early to mid Neolithic?

I’d say it’s not that specific/general Stone Age. As they are using predominantly stone tools (no metal jewellery) and there’s been no mention of farming I would imagine late Mesolithic, but Europe would have been saturated by many travellers already by then.
 
re the shelter what it evidenced to me was
all these lovely shelters we see in books take a lot of time and energy.
throw in a long walk over mountainous terrain and scouting a location (or more perhaps we only saw them choose the final site) it's no surprise if they cut corners or didn't have time to build a textbook shelter.
As Dan said in the episode they teach the priorities of survival but it isnt as simple as 1,2,3 its more a juggling act.
i know from my own experience its sorely tempting to convince yourself you've done sufficient thatching, I also know that it hardly ever is sufficient.
other pressing needs like firewood,water weigh on your mind immensely.


i think 1 group shelter might of been a wiser move straight away but i also understand the need for personal space (especially if someone snores)
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,464
8,343
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
I’d say it’s not that specific/general Stone Age. As they are using predominantly stone tools (no metal jewellery) and there’s been no mention of farming I would imagine late Mesolithic, but Europe would have been saturated by many travellers already by then.

There was no pottery in Europe in the Mesolithic as far as I'm aware; certainly of the quality that they are using (happy to be corrected).
 

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,318
870
West Somerset
EP #2 was better than #1, but I’ve always been surprised how much apparently ‘free’ time people have on these things. I’m sure it’s just an editing thing but it strikes me that folk from the supposed era would be flat out gathering / hunting for food, firewood, fruit and so on. My other half was impressed how clean their buckskin clothes remained as well. It just seems a bit at odds with a group of people who are living and working hard in a forest environment.

Having said that, I am enjoying the series as a welcome relief from the usual garbage broadcast on Saturday nights :)
 
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