Primitive lifestyle in rain forest

1) Spears would be far more practical than wooden swords. Easier to make without good tools and far more useful for hunting. Simple bows are possible too.
2) No, grinding rocks won't work, you need a special rock like flint, and a piece of steel. A better choice for the situation I think would be a fire-bow, if you can justify one of your characters knowing about them.
3) Better would be to use thin flexible sticks that wouldn't need tools to harvest to build a frame, and cover with large overlapping leaves.

Research. We still have subsistence cultures among people inhabiting rain forest environments in places like the Amazon Basin. Find out how they function, what tools they use, what foods they obtain, etc.

caw

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"-a Sikh greeting)

Someone would almost certainly have a pocket knife in that crash. I'd be surprised if no one did.

You cut reeds or thick grasses or flexible new branches and weave them into huts. Chink them with mud to help keep the rain out.

Someone might have a magnifying glass. And someone's certain to have glasses. These can be used with the sun to create fire. I've never done it myself, but you should be able to find the info online. Easier to find than flint, unless that's what they land on.

Spears and arrows rather than swords, yes. You need flint or obsidian or similar for the best arrowheads etc.

Fishing might be easy if this is an island.

There are books on how to tell if a plant is edible. You might be able to find that out online.

Hope that collection of items helps.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Spears and swords to defend against whom or what? Or for hunting? If there are other humans on the island, it is likely they would have contact with the outside world to effect a rescue or if they're hostile they'd probably have weapons that spears would be useless against. Most likely, if there are other humans your survivors would receive their hospitality and learn how to survive (fire, shelter, food) from them.

For fire, I agree the firebow is the way to go (Edit: seeing Siri's post changes my mind. Magnifying glass all the way. I have started fires that way, and much more easily than with a fire bow). Surely one of your survivors is likely to have at least seen someone in a movie do it and try to mimic it. I've tried this, and it's not easy, btw. Adding dry moss so the fire even starts is the key. However, how necessary is it for them to have fire? The only immediate need for fire would be to sanitize water by boiling, but if they are diligent about latrines and sanitation and the island is uninhabited they wouldn't have as much need for water sanitation. Speaking of water, where would they get it? As for food, how would they determine which plants are edible? On this last point I've seen survival guides describing how to do this, but it's a pretty complicated and several day procedure of rubboing on your skin then waiting a day to see if you break out, then nibbling and spitting out then waiting a day, then eating a small amount then waiting a day to see if you vomit or show poisoning signs. Part of what killed that guy in the Into the Wild book was a plant that contained a metabolic inhibitor; he starved amid plenty of food.

As for shelter, they would easily, even without any experience, figure out how to construct lean-tos from sticks and leaves.

Fortunately you can fudge quite a bit of this (just think of Lord of the Flies) but it is good to consider and research.

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

The people inhabiting rain forest environments have been there for several years, and surely their technology/techniques have advanced. .

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The peoples inhabiting the Amazon rain forest have been there for 10,000 years. They know how to subsist in that environment.

caw

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

I have a new colony in my mind that lives primitive, and I'm trying to visualize and get realistic information that would help the story feel legit. Say that a group crashed in a rain forest on an island. Are there islands in the rain forest? A few may know a thing or two about surviving, but being used to modern technology for their daily needs, I assume they don't know much.

I'm researching primitive lifestyle as a means to survive. How would you imagine that going? What do you see them doing?

I would assume these:
1) Make primitive weapons for survival: spears, wooden swords? Why do they need spears and ... swords?
2) Campfires - Grind rocks together to start a fire? That won't start a fire. There are plenty of ways to start a fire, but if they crashed there, presumably they have some fire-starting things and accelerants. Have you never watched Survivor?
3) Cut down trees for wooden houses - But how if there's no metal for cutting? Again, see any season of Survivor.
4) Added: Clothes: For clothes of 2-3 years old in the rain forest, I assume they still exist and are wearable, but may have wear and tear, some more than others. The MC was 6 years old and is growing up though during that 2-3 years, and I assume they grow faster. I assume clothes are still good. If not, would leaves, vines, and fur be the next option for the entire group?

I don't think you can really wear leaves so well. It's hot in the Amazon.

Chances are the story will take place a few years later, but I want that gap between crashing and the present to feel possible.

Any thoughts are welcomed.

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ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

The people inhabiting rain forest environments have been there for several years, and surely their technology/techniques have advanced. In this story, we're talking of what could have been done with 2-3 years. Studying the Amazon tribes might give some visual clues of what's possible and what's not though for a short term.

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The Amazon tribes have been there thousands of years and no, their technology is not advanced. That's why no one is allowed near them.

Regarding leaves for clothing, it can be done especially with something large like banana leaves. Banana fiber is quite useful as twine, although it's not very durable. However, they will get brittle quickly and would need to be replaced probably weekly. I imagine would itch like crazy. Does your MC need clothing? Going as God made him might be a realistic option.

In regards to clothing, if its a tropical rainforest, probably don't need that much.
If its a temperate rainforest, I'd look at the Salish tribes in Washington State/ Oregon. Some of their clothing was made from cedar bark.

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume clothes in the wilderness can last for 2-3 years, but I can imagine it getting worn out quickly due to the environment. For a colony used to clothes, I would imagine leaves would come next before going as they were born. Banana leaves and banana fiber are interesting. I assume those grow in the rainforest.

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Again, it's fucking hot.

I don't care if you're used to wearing clothes in regular society -- you find yourself in the rain forest you're not making clothes out of sticky leaves. Why would you? It seems like it'd be a pain in the ass to no particular benefit. I presume it can get chilly at night, and if it's raining, in which case you'd take shelter, and I can totally see weaving a blanket, but clothes?

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume clothes in the wilderness can last for 2-3 years, but I can imagine it getting worn out quickly due to the environment. For a colony used to clothes, I would imagine leaves would come next before going as they were born. Banana leaves and banana fiber are interesting. I assume those grow in the rainforest.

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Many Amazon peoples wear no clothes at all. It's hot there because the region straddles the equator, which is also why it is so rainy. The rain is not seasonal; it happens year-round. And, yes, it remains warm even when it is raining. Rain is not inherently cold.

caw

Where is this rainforest? Because that will make a difference to the answer; all rainforests are not the same.

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but rainforest implies that it rains. Yes. And probably frequently and heavily. Maybe I'm used to a colder climate, but rain always felt cold to me. So, even though it still rains, it's still hot? If it's hot, then yes, I can seem changing their lifestyles quicker than I had imagined. Is it because it's dense that it keeps the warmth packed within? I think I need to study two topics now.

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Yes, it's still hot at the equator even in the rain forest. Clothes don't help keep you warm in the rain regardless -- kind of the opposite. Wet clothing makes you colder than if you weren't wearing anything and could get drier faster when it stopped.

There's a ton of literature on wilderness survival in different biomes. If you have a good steel cutting tool, purifying water, making shelter, hunting, making clothes, starting and keeping a fire, are all feasible. None of it is that easy, but all feasible.

I'm in a rainforest right now. Not the Amazon, though, and I'm halfway up a mountain, so it's cooler here than on the coast THANK GOODNESS. I can confirm that there's not much point trying to keep the rain off if you're in the lowlands. Anything functionally waterproof just makes you sweat, so you get wet anyway.

Also, unless you're in SE Asia or New Guinea/northern Australia, bananas (Musa spp.) are a sign of cultivation.

ForeverYoursCaffiene said:

It's sci-fi, another world. I'm flexible at the moment. I like the idea of wearing clothes for a while and then start to cut down. I don't want this to be a hurry, per say. There's a culture in the story that wears clothes only if one's status is important--I would imagine scarcely worn animal fur or similar.

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It might be an idea to mention this upfront, rather than drip-feeding it into the discussion.

One thing you haven't mentioned: do they have any remnants of their original plane/vehicle to work with? Even scrap metal could be useful for cutting or toolmaking, or the shell could make a shelter (at least, at first: as they adapt, they may find that the crash site isn't an ideal base of operations, and move away to somewhere more suitable.) Did the vehicle come equipped with any emergency survival equipment? They'd probably turn to that before running out into an unknown jungle with unknown predators, parasites, or other dangers to build a stick hut, unless there's a compelling reason to abandon the site (radiation or some other danger - or the vehicle crashes in water or somewhere else impractical to access.)

Definitely seconding/thirding/whatevering suggestions to look up books on wilderness survival, even in non-rainforest situations. The mentality required for adaptation is pretty universal. (My suggestion would be to start with some Gary Paulsen, particularly his book Guts, about real-life incidents and stories that inspired his classic MG novel Hatchet and the rest of the Brian Robeson series, which feature a city boy learning to survive after a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness. Also look for numerous real-life accounts of survival.)

And whether their clothes or other items would be useful... depends on what they're made of, and this being sci-fi, that would be up to you. A durable material would probably work well, assuming it could be cut or torn into strips. But if their clothes are made to be recycled (for sanitation reasons, perhaps), they could biodegrade fast in a damp, humid environment.