Show 10A Ttir ''dll I like Tribune Sundav October Teaching Tool Uses Prehistoric App roach High-Tec- h Edto No lull thing C grtu teili Nn cwchoeoiogr ttuownit it thot mood they ptocoety wie ptonoed on o a would" I toil o Ooy th itudenti Ihen to loiNion IN pnmitiv loolt ond woponi utud oy piehutonc man IN pimite n to tno t how modem technology It dived horn technology th connection between IN R jnot t ftr poct pi tech" ond high tech 16 19X8 " By Stefan Fat&is Associated Press Writer BOSTON — In a Boston University so nee laboratory a student trims the top of a clay pot with a razor-sharchip of sol anic glass obtained by striking a rock with a deer antler At the other end of a long table another undergraduate struggles with a length of sinew to reinforce his beer ran holder made of rafea a kind of vine Another student is making a spear-throing device called an atlatl which was used by prehistoric man to obtain dinner It s all part of Curtis Runnels' archaeology class "Prehistoric Technology and Culture” where few con- cessions to modern man are permitted The general idea is to make today’s high tech students understand that the evolution from flint knapping to computer processing wasn t as simple as it may seern "We're more or less learning how it started" says David Cowan a psychology major from Los Angeles "It takes a lot more thinking to understand the basic stuff than it takes to understand the modern technology” he says Runnels an assistant professor of developed the class archaeology four years ago when he was at Stanford University Students fashion arrowheads and clay pots start fires and speculate on how 3 million years ago primitive man figured out how to kill a deer to get the antler to chip the volcanic glass to make the cutting tool On the first day of class Runnels tells his charges something they probably already knew but never really dwelled on that they are slaves to technology "If you were to be thrust down on some desert island somewhere" he says with considerable exaggeration "you guys would be dead in a day" "We re so dependent on this division of labor and other people doing our technology for us that most of us 4 1 j —Ass oootod e$s Pxo Archaeologist Curtis Runnels shows off the tools of his trade — replicas of prehistoric weapons — to a Boston U student cannot manipulate our technology" he adds "You ran use a computer but you can t make one In fact you can t even make your dinnerware Metal or plastic " The course's basic premise is to show how modern technology is derived from ancient technology — the connection between "pre tech" and "high-tec- " on nature arid the professor's animated style kit is used ofThe class's first-aiten when students nick their fingers with antlers and obsidian the deep maroon-colorevolcanic glass that is used to cut everything from clay to twine Onp of the few Runnels starts with stoneworking skills developed millions of years ago in Africa Metallurgy is studied next followed by pottery basketry and monumental architecture such as Stonehenge and the pyramids "There's a logic to this progression because what happens is as technology changes society changes" Runnels says "There's a complex feedback relationship between these two " things an As example Runnels cites what he calls the "prehistoric arms race" some historians believe developed about 5000 years ago when someone discovered that weapons made of metal were more effective than ones of wood and stone "All of a sudden there are new offensive and defensive weapons in the world" Runnels says sitting in an office decorated with a bronze sword a basket filled with spears and sticks and a tray holding fossilized acorns from 2800 B C Greece "Now new fortification walls are necessary Now you've got to have those weapons if those guys have got them" Runnels says "A whole new ball game opens up because the specifics of the technology make it possible to control it" Runnels approaches technological advances such as metallurgy which was developed 8000 to 9000 years ago by comparing the techniques of prehistory with those of today He grabs a lump of multicolored rock sitting on the edge of his desk "You know what that is? One of the most fundamental building blocks of our whole electric civilization is copper and that's the source of copper" Runnels says "All of our metallurgy including supersophisticated alloys have arisen out of essentially the same metallurgical techniques that were used m prehistory The iron beams that support this building — that technique was invented in prehistory The glass in the windows and in the computer screen are right out of the glass technology "All of this was done without any record People didn't come down from their mountain where they were recording the great deeds of political and military history to talk about what was going on down at the factories " Since Runnels’ students aren’t aware of any of this he has them build a fire and make their own cutting tools so they can appreciate how ancient skills led to more sophisticated ones and also fell out of use "It really gives you a sense that they ere not idiots they were not nincompoops" says Joseph Bloch 21 a semoi from Morristown N J majoring in ancient and medieval history He made an arrowhead he is quite proi d of "It really looks like something you'd dig up" he says "It s amazing that you can make something that was made millions of years ago " Most of the dozen or so students who take Runnels' class each semester major m fields outside archaeology but were attracted by the hands- - high-tec- h Our used is a kiln to fn e day pots to up to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit Runnels says a natural blaze would do just as well "but for some reason they won't let us build a fire in the parking lot" When he taught the class in slightly more bucolic Palo Alto Calif Runnels’ did in fact have the class materials build a fiee in the woods They roasted wienies and marshmallows just! like in prehistory "Making fire is a lot harder to do than you’d think” says Lara Prihodko 20 a sophomore archaeology appreciamajor with a tion for matches "It took like five " people to do it new-foun- draperies are ready to save you ready-mad- e 20-4- 0 Dress your home now for Georgetown the holidays ahead with savings on all our readymade draperies! 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