New discoveries, Stone Age buildings, ancient practices help us understand a mental health crisis

Featuring fresh perspective on the oldest buildings on the planet

created by real human people, with real human ingenuity, teamwork and confidence. . . without money.

Things have changed a lot in the last 12,000 years and it’s not all for the better. Ask any child therapist. It isn't just the kids who are having trouble, either. Mental health is an issue for many of the adults who are raising them. We believe that what we have learned about the Stone Age and Archaeoacoustics can be applied to help remedy the situation. It's got a lot of layers and moving parts: just like people do!

A study led by an Environmental Anthropologist from the University of Cambridge, England in association with a Child Psychologist suggests that because humankind lived as hunter-gatherer tribes for 95% of our evolutionary history, paying attention to hunter-gatherer childhoods may help economically developed countries improve education and wellbeing.

(N Chaudhary and A Swanepoel, “What Can We Learn from Hunter-Gatherers about Children’s Mental Health? An Evolutionary Perspective”, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2023). DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13773)

Actually, it's far bigger than that!

You might not think so now, but our ancient ancestors actually had some advantages. What they didn’t have in advanced technology was more than offset by what they knew about the world around them and how to relate with each other in healthy ways. There is tremendous sensibility to be relearned from people whom many would call the “uncivilized”. Thanks to modern science, we can now look into the ancient world with unprecedented clarity. We can gain perspective that is central to understanding some of the issues we are having today and is crucial for making healthy decisions for moving forward.

We are developing a Public Service campaign that begins with a FREE resource for parents, teachers and caregivers.

This project is the chance to plant some seeds of pride in our youngsters; pride in the tremendous gift of being human.

Archaeological evidence, principles of Evolutionary Anthropology, Child Psychology and Archaeoacoustics will be utilized to engage youngsters and help them feel better about themselves.

In contrast to futuristic Virtual Reality in outer space and the artificial constructs of the internet and television, we will present a time and place where everything was real, live folks were always around to help, younger ones learned a lot from the older ones and people were everything to each other. Social skills were extraordinary and ancient wisdom had not yet been lost in misinformation.

It's going to sound amazing!

(sample with button below)

COMMENTS

As a former broadcaster, I know from experience the role that sound plays in our lives, whether in music, in spoken word, or in story-telling. Archaeoacoustic research is a promising area of inquiry: the study of what sounds have represented to the cultures of the past, as well as what they represent to present day cultures, offers fascinating and much-needed ways to understand who we are as human beings.

Donna L. Harper, PhD

media historian, professor, author, public speaker, 2023 inductee, Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame

We know that cultures for thousands upon thousands of years passed their cultural norms, rites, and rituals along to younger generations by way of the oral tradition, which required strong listening skills and taught children the right ways to interact and to survive, as well as the correct ways to communicate within the culture or co-culture. This work appears to be a great jumping off point to return to the contexts and sensibilities that once ruled our human race and its array of cultural practices. We should all look deeper into the great potential of this project!

Dr. Larry Edmonds, Professor Emeritus, Communication

College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University

Archaeoacoustics is a promising new interdisciplinary initiative that is much needed in our times, when digital distraction and ambient noise are preventing children and people of all ages from developing a relationship with the reality around them. Besides drawing from several disciplines, it combines the ancient with the modern scientific to help humanity develop a continuum of communion with nature and one another.

Hal Swindall, Professor of English, Woosong University, South Korea

It is critical that we support this study and that it be recognized as a helpful resource for the health of our cultures. Social media must be understood as a very thin presence, and one that this study can remedy.

Michael Purdy PhD, Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies, Governors State University of Illinois

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. Thanks for making us think! Kids love this stuff!

Karen W., Recovery Peer Specialist, Venice, Florida

We're just getting started.

New discoveries, Stone Age buildings, ancient practices help us understand a mental health crisis