Join our authentic prehistoric retreat
in north-eastern Spain (near Burgos, North Castilie)
MAY / JUNE 2024

Travelling back in time to the common roots of humanity, we are claiming our

ancient heritage, and encounter the ultimate back-to-basics reality.
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A small clan of stone age people will set up camp on a large and beautiful tract of private land,

living in an oak forest, admits of nature and in proximity to abundant wildlife like wild pigs,

wild horses, auerochs and bison.

You can become part of the clan for one week!

Warum lese ich hier alles nur auf Englisch?
Roots Camp findet in Spanien statt und wird international beworben.

Es ist also sehr wahrscheinlich, dass auch nicht deutschsprachige

Teilnehmermit von der Partie sein werden.

Encounter the daily life during the stone age:

Prepare and cook basic and healthy food on the open fire; learn to make and use simple tools from stone, bone and wood; make your own leather moccasins; share primitive and ancestral living skills; learn fire making; shoot bow and atlatl; hone your tracking skills; work with local clay and fashion primitive jewellry; drink water from a spring; sleep in furs under the stars and much more …

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You don’t need to have any experience to join.

You are thinking about joining our prehistoric living experience?

The following should give you all the information you need –

Anything left unanswered? Then contact us!

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Our life at Roots Camp:

At camp we are envisioning a general prehistoric situation, drawing on features from the late palaeolithic to the neolithic.
You will participate in a strictly primitive outdoors event without any modern amenities:

There will be no modern clothing, shelter or sleeping arrangements, no plastic, metal or processed food.
You will go back to basics without commercial soaps, toothpaste, showers or toilet paper and of course you will leave behind your cellular phone and camera.

If you can embrace this reduction as a blessing, you are welcome to completely immerse yourself in nature, enjoy being outdoors during the whole time and take in the vibration of ancient living.

At Roots Wild Living project, life will be very simple and basic.

This does not mean we will be in a desperate state of survival.

There will be elementary and rustic shelters and we will have ample food available. We are sharing a healthy paleo diet including meat, vegetables, wild crafted foods, dried fruits, nuts and more. One warm meal will be cooked in the evening. Our drinking water comes from a spring and there is a creek nearby for bathing.

Every morning we will decide together what we would like to do during the day, what activities, what crafts to choose, trying to accommodate everybody’s interests. But of course, you are always welcome to spend your time freely if you prefer. Common chores like preparing food, collecting firewood or fetching water are part of the group experience and they should be joined in by everybody.

Roots camp is not a mass event but instead we love to have an intimate group of people treading lightly on the land. Besides the initiators, there will be a maximum of three more people like you living in camp at a time.
If we are lucky, we might occasionally be visited by befriended stone age professionals enriching our camp life while sharing their knowledge and skills.

Upon your arrival at Paleolitico Vivo, we will meet you outside of camp to transition into the stone age together. For this transformation you will be freed of all your modern accountments, which are handed over to the organizer for safekeeping for the duration of your stay. Then we will supply you with a set of basic stone age equipment such as simple clothing and sleeping arrangements made from linen, leather and furs. If you have your own primitive equipment feel free to bring it along.
Together we will create leather footwear on your first day, which you will be able to take home.

Who we are - The Roots-Clan core group:

Roots – Stone Age Event is the brain child of primitive skills practitioner Markus Klek (54) from Germany.
“After spending time during a stone age living experiment at the same locale in the summer of 2022, I was so enticed with the place and the marvellous experience there, that I wanted to come back, stay even longer and give new people the opportunity to share the same wonderful experience.

Thus the idea of Roots-Camp was born.”
Markus has been practicing prehistoric technology and ancient crafts for over twenty five years, leading workshops in bow making and traditional hide tanning. He works together with various archaeology museums and other institutions around Europe and is the author of books and articles on primitive skills and traditional tanning techniques. For years he has lived in the USA and Portugal, teaching and learning from experts like Matt Richards, Lynx Vilden and Jim Riggs.
Recently he has transversed the Black Forest mountain range (Southern Germany) in the middle of winter with his stone age gear.
Markus also is a certified Nature- and Heritage Guide (Interpret Europe). He is fluent in English and speaks some French and Portuguese.
Markus will be supported by his partner Tine (45). Together with their three children (8) and (10) they form the core group present in camp. They will spend a total of about six weeks in camp at Palaeolitico Vivo.

Paleolitico Vivo - Our location, our host:

Paleolithico Vivo is a privately owned natural park in north Eastern Spain. The closest big city is Burgos, approximately 20 km away. Our hosts at Paleolotico Vivo are Eduardo and his wife Fani. They operate this one of a kind park as a private initiative to conserve the land, provide wild and natural habitat for species of ancient herbivores such as aurochs, bison and wild horses, some of theses animals roam the land freely and we will be living right among them. Eduardo and Fani are offering guided safari tours to the general public across their wonderful terrain (we will on occasion be aware of their presence) , which consists of about 1000 hectars of remote Oak forest, open brushland, hills and meadows, all at an altitude of about 1000 meters (3000 feet). Eduardo and Fani are wonderful people and we are thankful that they provide the locale to make our dream come true.

Furthermore they are assisting us with organisation, customer contact and transportation.
The climate in North-eastern Castilie is generally mild and temperate.
www.paleoliticovivo.com

What you should be aware of:

As participant of “Roots”, you will need to be in good health, able bodied and if you come alone be at least 18 Years of age. Of course families and children are welcome too.

To join us at Roots Camp, you do not need to have experience in primitive skills or wilderness living. But if you do that’s great, we appreciate your input and love to share knowledge.
During your stay we are forming a clan unit, so naturally you will need to be willing to integrate into daily clan life, participate in daily tasks and take full responsible for your own doings.

Responsibility for injury, discomfort or sickness cannot be taken by the organizer.

Participants are required to have their own travel healthcare insurance. Make sure it covers helicopter pickup.
You are allowed to wear glasses and bring medical drugs if you need them. If you have any allergies or require special attention in anyway you need to let us know in advance.

There will be no refined sugar, alcohol, drugs or coffee in camp.
You should be able to speak English, as we are an international community.
We will have a telephone available at all times for emergency calls, the number can also be given to your relatives back home. You will on occasion see cellular phones around, because we are taking pictures for documentation purposes and to supply you with ample photographic material after your return to the modern world.

How to register / Dates:

If you love what you have read so far and you would like to join us, then please contact us.

We will then schedule a telephone conversation to clarify open questions and get to know each other to find out if we are a match for this adventure. If everything is settled you can then officially register.

During our stay at roots camp we have three time slots available:

Saturday 25.5.- Saturday 1.6.
Saturday 8.6. – Saturday 15.6.
Sunday 16.6. – Sunday 23.6.

Upon registration you will need to transfer your initial non-refundable deposit of €100.

The rest of the money should betransferred before 15. April 2024.

Cancelation is possible up to 14 days prior to your arrival for a refund of 50% of your fees. If you need to cancel later or leave the event prematurely, we cannot allow for a refund.

Price:
Adult €750
Children (below age 13) €550

Meals will be shared though and we will provide a list of suitable Paleo foods for your orientation.

In this immersion food is not fully included. Every participant will bring paleo food sufficient for a seven day stay. We will supplement from our supply with organically grown non-perishable foods, fresh vegetables, meats and additionally wild harvested foods.
In case you are not able or willing to bring food we request an additional 150€ in cash for the week.

The moderate pricing of the event aims at making the experience available to a broad range of income levels. As we go into the project with a lot of idealism, personal engagement and expenses, we would be very happy for additional donations to support this extraordinary undertaking.