The year course to become a Stone Age expert allows you to recreate the complete equipment of a Stone Age man and adapt it to your personal needs. This course is particularly diverse, as it covers all areas of life in prehistoric times: tools, clothing, nutrition and experience of the way of life of a Stone Age clan at that time. And to top it all off, we will follow Ötzi’s footsteps across the Alps with the prehistoric equipment.
The training is aimed at wilderness guides, nature educators, history and technology teachers, archaeologists, museum staff, people interested in prehistory, and people in the field of bushcraft and survival who want to increase their manual skills to the maximum. Archaeologists and hiking guides are given the view of Stone Age man, which makes it possible to discover traces of prehistoric settlement in the landscape. By experiencing everyday life in the Stone Age and the unique tour through the high mountains, you will build up a wealth of experience with which you can bring the Stone Age back to life.
Survival trainer Philipp Schraut has been dealing with primitive technologies since his childhood and the discovery of the ice mummy Ötzi opened a window into the past for him. So it is not surprising that after studying restoration, he went to South Tyrol to be closer to the famous glacier man. During his work as an experimental archaeologist at the Archeoparc Val Senales, he has been teaching visitors of the museum the variety of different craft techniques. And as a trained hiking guide, he knows the surrounding mountains like the back of his hand, so he also knows the ancient paths on which Ötzi the Iceman climbed to the glacier on which he met his death.
The duration: The craft part of the course extends over 21 days, devided into two immersions, one in June 2025 and another one in November 2025. You can use the time until the final crossing of the Alps in autumn 2026 to complete your equipment and perfect your skills. Our Stone Age trip lasts 6 days and is an important part of the training, because the direct experience of the alpine mountains full of prehistoric sites gives you unexpected insights into life 5,000 years ago.
The price: The cost of the entire course is € 3,355.00 and includes the material expenses and a simple lunch, which we prepare on the fire on the course days.
The location: All course modules take place in Ötzi’s homeland, the Vinschgau Valley in South Tyrol. In the municipality of Laces, several settlements from the Stone Age have been identified. Therefore, it is the ideal place to immerse yourself in the Stone Age techniques. We have a beautiful spot there with a fire pit in the woods and a stream nearby where you can also roll out your sleeping bag. Otherwise, the campsite of Latsch or various hotels and guesthouses are available for overnight stays. There is also a youth hostel in Merano.
All the equipment you have made is yours and will remain with you along with a certificate and, of course, the unique memories of experiencing real Stone Age feeling together.
Arguably, what most characterizes the Stone Age is the use of stone tools. Flint or Silex is unique in its material properties and the skilful processing enables the production of outstandingly sharp knives and efficient weapons. For all the following modules, tools made of Silex are necessary and therefore we start the course by learning the right technique to be able to make them ourselves. You will learn how to put together your own personal tools for stone processing. On the first weekend of Flintknapping, we learn the theoretical basics and practice knocking razor-sharp blades out of a piece of flint. With the retoucher, we will turn them into arrowheads, scrapers and other tools that we will use to make our personal equipment. The goal is also to make a dagger blade for our Ötzi knife and to stick it into a wooden handle. And since making fire is one of the basic skills of every Stone Age person, we also learn the art of how to strike sparks with iron pyrite.
We build a bow from a single piece of wood, as it has been done for about 10,000 years. It is not only a matter of choosing the right woods, but above all of the right processing: a wrong cut and the bow would break when used. For fine tuning, the so-called tillering, our tools made of Silex are also used again. We twist the bowstring from authentic Stone Age materials, either from linden bast or from rawhide. To match the bow, we build arrows from the best available woods and, of course, from our self-made arrowheads made of silex. The glue that binds all the components together is birch tar, which is obtained from birch bark by dry distillation. We also need a quiver for transport, so that the sensitive arrows remain well protected. This consists of an animal skin that is held in shape by a hazelnut stick and can be worn over the shoulder with a leather strap.
In the tanning process, the hide of the hunted animals becomes a breathable and soft leather. To do this, the hair and adhering flesh residues are scraped off. The animal’s brain is then used to brew a tanning solution, which must be worked into the cleansed skin. Now the fabric can be stretched and must be kept in motion until it is completely dry. The final smoking process makes the tanning water-resistant. We are also tanning fur on hides for our alpine clothing.
Our self-tanned leather becomes clothing in this module. Brain-tanned leather is extremely comfortable and yet very durable. From this we sew our own tailor-made clothes. Large pieces become a shirt, small pieces become a belt pouch, like the one our Ötzi wore around his waist. Where fur is used, we get excellent insulation against the cold of the high mountains. Like the leather clothing, it will be individually tailored to your body. With the help of a special twisted tying technique, we make a cape or sleeping mat out of long grasses. In the case of the piece that Ötzi carried with him, science is not sure whether it was intended to be a raincoat or an insulating pad against the cold of the ground at night. In any case, this piece of equipment can be used in a variety of ways. So that we can take everything with us on our final tour and still keep our hands free, we build a carrying frame as a backpack. We will also learn how to make containers from tree bark. In this module, we complete our equipment with everything we need for our trip. Of course, Ötzi’s first-aid kit, a birch polypore fungus, must also be included.
The third immersion: The journey- crossing the Alps with Stone Age gear
We start in Val Venosta, where Ötzi spent the last years of his life, and wander through the Val Senales as Stone Age nomads. After a stop at the Neolithic houses of the Archeoparc museum, we ascend on a prehistoric path to the site where Ötzi was found. We spend the night at a hunter’s rest area in the Ötztal, on the last day we return to South Tyrol via the Hochjoch. On this journey we not only test the functionality of our equipment, it is also a test of our personality, how much Stone Age man is still in us.