Birch pitch as a primitive hot glue is a much older invention than pottery. So how did people make it before they had pots? In this video, I explore one of the proposed methods of pre-pottery birch tar production.

0:00 Intro
0:14 First attempt: promising, but needs work
3:47 Second attempt: some progress
7:02 Third attempt: almost there
9:08 Fourth attempt: success at last!
10:36: Outro + nightingale singing by a camp fire

It worked very well in the end, but I do have my doubts as to whether this could really have been a widely used process. You don't need fired pots for it, you do kind of end up with a pot in the end. Albeit low-fired and low-quality, but I think archaeologists would have found these remains if they were widespread.

This process has one advantage: You can do it from scratch in one day. All you need is birch bark, clay and fire. And possibly a stone you can turn into a receptacle if, like me, you can't find good quality bark to make it out of.

Some additional info:
- Use bark from dead trees. Not only does this not harm living trees, it is also much easier to harvest and contains the same amount of tar. Use only the papery part and remove any woody material clinging to it; it contains nothing of value and thus needlessly occupies space in the bark roll.
- The funnel at the top of the base should have a downward-pointing lip at its lower rim. Otherwise the liquid tar might not drip into the receptacle, but instead run down the clay wall into the pit.
- Here is a very current scientific article about possible birch tar production methods by Neanderthals: https://link.springer.com/article/10.... .TLDR: They probably didn't use the inefficient "condense on a cold stone" method shown in my first video on the topic, but something more sophisticated.

This was filmed at the @Zeiteninsel, a living prehistory museum that is currently under construction and is set to open next year.

#primitive #bushcraft