CSU’s Department of Anthropology celebrated Prehistoric Technology Day the afternoon of Oct. 24 in the Monfort Quad.

Students in the Anthropology 140 class rotated through activities in the Monfort Quad and learned how to skin hides, throw atlatls, make beads, face paint and flintknap, among other things.

Students in the introductory class were able to gain an appreciation for the hard work that prehistoric hunter-gatherers did to put food in the mouths of their families.

“For those students, the experience of not only holding the artifacts, but to use them in a functional context was priceless,” said Richard Adams, anthropology adjunct and organizer of the event.

Each station of the event was run by upper-division undergraduate students in the anthropology program. The ANTH 360 students mastered the hands-on activities after researching them as part of a class project. They developed their own lesson plans to teach their peers in the ANTH 140 class, who attended the event and participated in the activities.

“We have been doing research on prehistoric technologies for the last six weeks in the class,” said Kellyn Davis, one of the ANTH 360 students who was teaching the face paint station. “This is kind of the culmination of what we have learned, so we have a lot to share with the ANTH 140 students.”

Adams, who teaches both ANTH 140 and ANTH 360 classes, said, “I am extremely proud of the ANTH 360 class that did the actual teaching of the prehistoric technologies offered to three sections of the ANTH 140 class and a surprising number of walk-ons.”

An anthropology class from Fossil Ridge High School also participated in the university’s event.

Stephanie Ozimek, an art student who is in Adams’ ANTH 140 class, won the Everyday Venus figurine competition on Homecoming weekend. She also attended Prehistoric Technology Day and created a Venus figurine merged with a Venus fly trap at the ancient pottery station.