Errett Callahan (December 17, 1937 – May 29, 2019) was an American
archaeologist,
flintknapper
Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing ...
, and pioneer in the fields of
experimental archaeology
Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks ...
and
lithic replication studies.
Early life
Errett Callahan was born in
Lynchburg, Virginia on December 17, 1937. Callahan’s interest in the outdoors and
Native American lifeways began quite early on. As a boy Callahan was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and it was as a
Boy Scout that he was first exposed to the skills and techniques that the Native Americans used to survive in the outdoors.
[Callahan, Errett: Personal Communication, September 25, 2007] His father, who was also his Scoutmaster, played a large role in this, not only imparting his technical knowledge, but also instilling a sense of self-reliance and independence that would shape Errett’s outlook his entire life.
Callahan attended
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden Sydney is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census.
Hampden Sydney is the home of Hampden–Sydney College, a private all- ...
in
Hampden-Sydney, Virginia from 1956 to 1960. While at Hampden-Sydney Callahan majored in French to better prepare himself for the missionary work in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
he hoped to do after graduation.
Callahan became a free-lance artist and went instead to
East Africa in 1965 where English was readily spoken. He returned to the United States a year later in 1966, where he
painted landscapes for three years and then taught art at a prep school for another two.
Graduate studies
In 1969 Callahan enrolled at
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...
in
Richmond, Virginia, where he studied painting and
modern art. He received his Master of Fine Arts in 1977. Callahan soon realized that there was very little money to be made in painting and decided to devote himself to his love of primitive technologies.
Callahan attended
The Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...
in
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
between 1974 and 1981 where he completed his Master’s and doctoral work. Callahan’s work mainly focused on experimentation and replication of aspects of Native American archaeology. His Doctoral dissertation, ''Pamunkey Housebuilding: an Experimental Study of Late Woodland Technology in the
Powatan Confederacy'' was the culmination of years of experimentation and research into the lifeways of the Powatan people.
Academic career
While at Catholic University, Callahan served as an instructor of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
at Virginia Commonwealth University until 1977. It was during this period at Virginia Commonwealth that Callahan pioneered the study of
Living Archaeology,
teaching classes that combined academic study and research with primitive technological experimentation. With the help of his students, Callahan conducted seven living archaeology experiments over this time period that contributed greatly to both the understanding of native lifeways as well as the field of experimental archaeology itself. The first, the Old Rag project, was an
Early Woodland encampment experiment conducted in the
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...
of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in 1972. At the
Old Rag project Callahan and his students produced all of the
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
and
bone
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...
tools used in the construction and subsequent short-term habitation of the site and its dwelling. In 1973, Callahan and his students continued their experimental work at the
Wagner Basalt Quarry project in
northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...
, where they constructed and lived in a reproduction
Desert Archaic encampment much in the same way they did at the Old Rag project. After the Wagner Basalt Quarry project, Callahan began an even more ambitious undertaking in 1974 with the multi-phased
Pamunkey project. This project, located along the
Pamunkey River in
Tidewater Virginia
Tidewater refers to the north Atlantic coastal plain region of the United States of America.
Definition
Culturally, the Tidewater region usually includes the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, southern Maryl ...
, consisted of a series of extended (one month) living experiences in
Eastern Middle and Late Woodland encampments of their own construction. As with the previous projects everything used was produced on site, however, the extended nature of this project allowed for a more advanced understanding of Late Woodland technology, which Callahan presented for his Doctoral dissertation, Pamunkey Housebuilding: an Experimental Study of Late Woodland Technology in the
Powatan Confederacy.
Flint knapping and experimental archaeology
Callahan first began
flint knapping in 1956. He was completely self-taught for the first ten years, learning all he knew through trial and error and by examining the prehistoric artifacts he was trying to recreate.
After his first decade of work, he studied with such Master-level flint knappers as
Don Crabtree, Gene Titmus,
François Bordes, J. B. Sollberger, and Jacques Pelegrin. Along with his continued experimentation and instructions from the masters, Callahan began reading everything he could get his hands on that pertained to flint knapping and primitive technologies. Over the first twenty years of his research Callahan worked his way through the lithic technologies of the European
Paleolithic,
Paleo-Indian,
Archaic, and
Woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
traditions of the Americas with another five years spent deciphering the technologies of the European
Mesolithic, all the while voluntarily restricting himself to replications of prehistoric forms. Not content to stop there Callahan spent the next twenty years of his life working his way through the complex stone technologies of the European
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
. Only after that was Callahan ready to start his work on the Post Neolithic and Non-Traditional technologies where he was once again in uncharted territory, working by trial and error to produce forms that had never been seen before.
Ethics in experimental archaeology
Along with his work in the technological aspects of the field of experimental archaeology, Callahan worked tirelessly to promote ethical research and documentation among fellow experimental archaeologists.
Modern
forgeries
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbid ...
passed off as prehistoric artifacts have been detrimental to the field. Callahan spoke out against such practices, encouraging flint knappers around the world to sign and date all of their production. Callahan also championed authentic and scientific reconstructions, which he defined in his article ''What is Experimental Archaeology?,''
as reconstructions which are successful, functional units undertaken with the correct period tools, materials, and procedures and which are scientifically monitored. In this statement, Callahan urged other flint knappers and experimental archaeologists against using modern replica tools such as copper billets to reproduce stone tools instead of the traditional bone and stone hammers used throughout prehistory. Callahan also said in the statement that without proper documentation of the techniques and processes there is no real experiment. With Callahan at the forefront of experimental archaeology, the field of
replication studies gained acceptance throughout the academic community.
Northern Europe
In 1972 Errett received a call from
Hans-Ole Hansen, founder of the former Lejre Experimental Centre, nowadays
Land of legends (Sagnlandet Lejre)
Land of Legends, ''Centre for Historical-Archaeological Research and Communication'' (Danish: ''Sagnlandet Lejre'') is a 106-acre (43 hectare) archaeological open-air museum situated in the Lejre Municipality, few kilometres west of Roskilde, De ...
, in
Lejre, Denmark.
Hansen had founded the center in the 1960s as an experiment in Denmark’s past. Until Hansen contacted Callahan, the center had dealt mainly with Denmark’s
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
. With Callahan’s help, the center pushed back the time periods represented to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
and
Mesolithic. Callahan first traveled to Denmark in 1979, where he conducted a conference that dealt specifically with the archaeology of the area. At the conference he set up a small knapping area where he engaged Danish archaeologists and raised awareness in experimental lithic technology. He returned to Denmark in 1981, this time spending seven months at the Lejre Experimental Centre conducting research into the techniques used to produce the stone tool kit of the Neolithic Danes, including the Neolithic Danish dagger, a highly advanced stone knife originally made to copy the forms of the
Bronze daggers being produced in northern and central Europe at that time. Through his research Callahan was the first experimental archaeologist able to reproduce the daggers using traditional techniques. He later compiled his work done in Denmark to be published in a book.
Along with his work in Denmark, Callahan was part of ongoing research into the Swedish Mesolithic and Neolithic as well. His replication study of Middle Sweden’s Mesolithic and Neolithic
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
and
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
technology and usage, published in ''An Evaluation of the Lithic Technology in Middle Sweden During the Mesolithic and Neolithic,'' shed new light on several long standing questions, including population migration,
microblade technology
Microblade technology is a period of technological development marked by the creation and use of small stone blades, which are produced by chipping silica-rich stones like chert, quartz, or obsidian. Blades are a specialized type of lithic flake ...
, and knapping efficiency vs. waste, faced by Swedish archaeologists who studied the lithic technologies of the area. As a result of his research in Sweden he was awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the Faculty of Humanities at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance during ...
, Sweden in 1992 and a faculty position in the archaeology department at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance during ...
in
Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the capi ...
.
Piltdown productions
Upon his return from
Northern Europe in 1981 Callahan founded
Piltdown Productions as a means to sell his many publications, supplies, and instructional materials, as well as the stone tools and knives he produced. He first used the name, which he took from the infamous
Piltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a paleoanthropological fraud in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. Although there were doubts about its authenticity virtually from the beginning, the remains ...
hoax of the early 1900s in which British collector
Charles Dawson attempted to pass off the jawbone of an
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...
and fragments of a human skull as an undiscovered human ancestor found in a gravel quarry in
Piltdown, England. Callahan first used the Piltdown name in 1974 in a
comic strip he drew for ''
Experimental Archaeology Papers'', or ''A.P.E.''.
In the comic strip he presented a humorous look at the life of a
caveman
The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as "simian" or " ape-like" by Marcellin Bo ...
. Callahan wrote two more installments of the comic for the ''A.P.E.'' and then for the ''
Newsletter of Experimental Archaeology''. During this period, he was also producing documentary and instructional films dealing with various aspects of primitive technology as well as beginner flint knapping kits and tool reproductions that he was sold to universities, colleges, and hobbyists around the country. Callahan produced several catalogue editions that contain not only his stone tool and instructional materials but a good deal of his philosophy and ethical stances towards the field of flint knapping.
Two of the more unusual items to be found in Callahan’s Piltdown Productions inventory are his nontraditional
obsidian knives and his obsidian
scalpel
A scalpel, lancet, or bistoury is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, podiatry and various arts and crafts (either called a hobby knife or an X-acto knife.). Scalpels may be single-use dispos ...
s. The nontraditional obsidian knives, which Callahan began producing in quantities in 1984, were made with the same traditional tools as are his prehistoric replications, but in a variety of shapes and sizes that are not based on any known prehistoric
typology
Typology is the study of types or the systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics. Typology is the act of finding, counting and classification facts with the help of eyes, other senses and logic. Ty ...
.
Callahan originally began his work on nontraditional forms out of a desire to break out of the restrictions of traditional stone knife reproductions. His knives won many awards and have often been featured in
Blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...
magazine.
While his nontraditional knives were a way for Callahan to step outside the restrictions of the prehistoric typologies, his obsidian scalpels were a way for him to provide a service to mankind.
The technology to make scalpel blades out of smoky obsidian, a volcanic glass that allows for the sharpest blade production, was first developed by Don Crabtree in the late 1970s. The blades, which have edges only a few molecules thick, are 100 to 500 times sharper than the traditional surgical steel scalpels. These ultra-sharp edges produce less scarring and tissue damage and speed the healing process. Though they are not popular in the medical field, Callahan’s obsidian scalpels have been used with great success in hundreds of operations, many performed by doctors and scientists at the
University of Michigan Health System
Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan Health System or UMHS before 2017) is the wholly owned academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Michigan Medicine includes the Universi ...
who have done extensive research using scalpels produced by Callahan.
Society of primitive technology
Throughout the 1980s the fields of experimental archaeology and lithic replication studies endured some harsh criticisms in the United States from various members of the academic community.
These criticisms stemmed mainly from unscrupulous flint knappers attempting to pass their modern reproductions off as authentic prehistoric stone tools. As a result of this many practitioners went into a kind of academic hiding, choosing not to publish the results of their ongoing research. While “in hiding” the field continued to grow with every new technique that was rediscovered and, as Callahan put it in his article ''What is Experimental Archaeology?'' “the field was bursting at the seams for expression”.
In an effort to bring together members of the community, Callahan invited ten of the leading primitive technology teachers and practitioners to the
Schiele Museum of Natural History’s
Center for Southeastern Native American Studies in
Gastonia, North Carolina
Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 20 ...
in November 1989. It was at this gathering that
The Society of Primitive Technology was founded to promote the practice and teaching of
aboriginal skills, foster communication between teachers and practitioners, and to bring about a set of standards for the authenticity, quality and ethics of the research that was being carried out. The society, of which Callahan was president from its inception until he retired his post in 1996,
publishes the biannual journal ''
Bulletin of Primitive Technology'' which includes articles on a variety of experimental archaeological topics including but not limited to stone and bone tools, aboriginal structures, nutrition, clothing, and
fire production.
Cliffside workshops
In 1987, Callahan began his Cliffside Workshops as a means to impart the knowledge he learned throughout the years about flint knapping and primitive technology to students and enthusiasts from around the world.
Callahan taught the workshops at his Lynchburg, Virginia home, hosting five to ten students at a time. The workshops, which were held in the early summer and fall, mainly covered flint knapping techniques, though Callahan would cover any number of topics associated with the primitive technologies he was well versed in if the students were interested.
Retirement
Upon retiring from flint knapping, Callahan compiled his thirty years of research into the lithic technologies of
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
into one publication. He continued to mentor and instruct students in flint knapping and other primitive technologies at his Lynchburg, Virginia home, as well as occasionally writing articles for the ''Bulletin of Primitive Technology''.
Death
Errett died on May 29, 2019 after complications from Parkinsons.
References
External links
Errett Callahan Home PageSociety of Primitive Technology Home PageLejre Land of Legends Home Page former Lejre Experimental Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callahan, Errett
1937 births
2019 deaths
Knife makers
Catholic University of America alumni
Virginia Commonwealth University alumni
People from Lynchburg, Virginia
20th-century American archaeologists
21st-century American archaeologists
Historians from Virginia