| abstract | - Ethnotechnology is a broad term referring to the material culture of an indigenous (often nomadic, or seasonally nomadic) people, or to the study of very early human technologies. (The outdated phrase "primitive technology" has pejorative overtones, belying the high degree of sophistication which many peoples display in their works.) In its most traditional sense, common examples of ethnotechnology would be stone tools, dugout canoes, cedar bentwood boxes, throwsticks and boomerangs, traditional weaving, skin-on-frame kayaks (i.e., qayaqs) or most any functional item prepared (often elegantly) from natural materials, or any other item or process that would be made or used (or were made or used) by people prior to the onset of settlements and agriculture. Hallmarks of ethnotechnology are the creative and insightful exploitation (as opposed to dominance) of the natural properties of the materials for the purpose at hand, a respect for what or from whom the raw material was obtained, (usually) sustainable processes, and often, the ephemeral nature of the items once they are cast aside. The more familiar term ethnopharmacology can be thought of as a sub-discipline of ethnotechnology. In more recent usage, ethnotechnology has also come to have another meaning in the field of ethnocomputing. Ethnotechnology is contrasted with retrotechnology, a return to agrarian or nomadic practices by some people living in urban regions.
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