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| FLITNKNAPPING MAGAZINE AUGUST 2013. VOL.1 NO. 4 |
Doing the FLINTKNAPPING MAGAZINE is a bit
harder than I thought. Some folks deliver articles and stuff and are very
prompt, other make big promises yet give me nothing. Do to this lack of
interest by most of the readers I am
backing it off to every other month. This bimonthly format will give me more
time to brown nose people into sending me articles. I tried to do a better job
this time to lure in more photo and written contributions. Thank you all
to the kind folks that contributed
( :.
Ray Harwood
at Western Lithics. figflint@yahoo.com. Find
"FLINTKNAPPING MAGAZINE" "WESTERNLITHICS" on FACE BOOK.FRONT COVER BY ELMER SNAGNASTY
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| FLITNKNAPPING MAGAZINE AUGUST 2013. VOL.1 NO. 4 Elmer Snagnasty
I have never been so disappointed in my self that I couldn't corral any girls to take any sexy knapping pics and that I couldn't get any glass person to collaborate. but...and this is a pretty lousy consolation (you know compared to what i had in mind)
It s a guy showing a kid a point.
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THE ZEN OF FLINTKNAPPING
Ray Harwood
People
meditate in many different ways. Zen Buddhism is one of the Chinese teaching
that believes in meditation to reach enlightenment. Find your calmness. I smash
a rock in a systematic manor.
Zen is an ancient and
proven technique to know yourself and manifest your True Nature, which is
the nature of enlightenment. It was established 2,500 years ago by the
historical Buddha and allows you to learn about yourself by observing your life
unfolding from moment to moment without biases. Flintknapping was established millions of years ago and one uses
nature or natural items to express artistic-ness and being one with the stone,
hence-one with nature. Concentration and reading the stone and planning moves
of the chess game of lithic reduction takes your mind out of your daily reality
and you share with the stone and share thoughts that humans have shared in this
knapping realm for thousands of generations.
Truly when I am
flintknapping I zone out of the rest of the world, in a paleo-bubble and
my mind is in the proverbial chess game with
the stone. I would like to even the odds by getting a flake over grinding FOB
machine, but I have no idea which one to buy or how to use it.
I, as many
flintknappers, have spent a lot of time in marshal arts, the concentration is
quite similar and the specific systematic repetitiveness is present in both. While notching points,
closed entry, my focus is so intense that I am nearly in a trance. Getting ready for a big knap-in and leaving
at the butt crack of dawn is nirvana, an excitement that brings me back to when
I was a kid going fishing or hunting with my dad.
When I find a
really nice knapping rock or when I am ordering lithic material online I am
like Marcos buying a new pair of shoes, even when she has 10,000 pairs already,
it like a drug. When a box of rocks, which I am dumber than, comes in the mail,
I am like a little kid at Christmas!
YAY! It is so exciting. My personal favorite is a type of silver sheen called
"dragon skin", from Glass Buttes, Oregon. I love the black and olive green flow patterns and the slight
hint of shinning silver glitter in there. I truly think the patterns in the
stone are a fingerprint of god and nature, and it is important to pay homage to
the stone by making something wonderful and do not waste any.
Everyone has their favorite thing; horses,
guitars, banjos, turnips, body building, getting fake boobs put in, I like some of these things too, but I am
addicted to flintknapping and rocks. So with pen in hand (keyboard), I set
forth another week end in search of the perfect rock to help me to
reach enlightenment!
KNAP-INS I DID GO
The amazing "green blanket knap-in" located in Lander Wyoming was wonderful. we met up with fellow flintknapping folks like Larry and Mona Averrit and Jim Shipley. The event was hosted by Burr and Chancy Garretson. There was a wonderful atl atl competition in which Tristan took first place in the youth and Newt took third in the men's compition , it was very exciting and we all had a great time. Tristan met a really great friend named Jessica, and our weeinie dog Henry feel in love with a black poodle. A wonderful time was had by all in Wyoming.
Then we attended the "Illahee knapping" in Illahee Flats, Oregon. The event was hosted by gem point flintknapper, Jim Hopper. It was a very interesting and entertaining knap-in. Oregon is a beautiful place for a knap in, and there is lots of obsidian there!. we were there 3 days, then we went to the kind house spent 2 days there and that was a lot of fun. Then off too glass buttes to dig obsidian for 6 glorious days. It was hot and dirty but we mined lots of Obsidian and Emory came and helped us. Then we went too Burns too Visit Emory for awhile. After Emory's visit it was home.org ..was a great time. We certainly enjoyed seeing everyone and look forward to seeing them all again soon..thanks for your help Emory!!!!!!!
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| DOG VALLEY DICK DAGGER |
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| WOWZERS! AWSOME DAGGER BY DOG VALLEY DICK! |
Elmer Snagnasty
Knapping in the Age of Novelty
This is a feeble attempt at trying to transcend knapping for the sake of lithic replication.
What is popular then is still popular now, but the points made now are popular because they appear similar the ancient points.
Some people can find exotic materials, some people can grind the exactly convexity in their material to ensure that each flake runs from edge to edge creating beautiful parallel ripple flakes. Some people can flake and notch into the points with exact precision. Some people can stitch their points back and fourth like the Danish. Some people can flake on one side and polish the back side like the Egyptians. Some people can Drill through the points and knap from the center outwards. Some people can knap the shape of a point out from inside the point so is looks like a point within a point. Some people can mix metals with glass and other knappable materials.
What the Point? Well, if you consider that there have already been millions of Dalton points made, millions of Clovis and Folsom and Cumberlands made already, that making one in recent times is an act of copying the Old Masters. This would be similar to a Modern Painter trying to make an exact replica of a Rembrandt or DaVinci. But if you set out to paint like Rembrandt or DaVinci you will only make a worse version. After all, the Davinci used to look horribly modern; it took hundreds of years to develop that sfumato look. It took hundreds of years of people smoking and coughing and fly by boogers and floating dandruff to turn the Mona Lisa from an obnoxious brightly colored Drag Queen to the softened muted toned painting it is today. It didn’t start out beautiful, it became beautiful.
What the Point? Well, if you consider that there have already been millions of Dalton points made, millions of Clovis and Folsom and Cumberlands made already, that making one in recent times is an act of copying the Old Masters. This would be similar to a Modern Painter trying to make an exact replica of a Rembrandt or DaVinci. But if you set out to paint like Rembrandt or DaVinci you will only make a worse version. After all, the Davinci used to look horribly modern; it took hundreds of years to develop that sfumato look. It took hundreds of years of people smoking and coughing and fly by boogers and floating dandruff to turn the Mona Lisa from an obnoxious brightly colored Drag Queen to the softened muted toned painting it is today. It didn’t start out beautiful, it became beautiful.
Picasso is quoted as saying, “Bad Artists copy; good artists steal.” We should be stealing from the past, stealing from each other, stealing from every single culture that ever broke a rock, stealing from their symbols, stealing from our symbols, making up our own and playing with something new. We can collectively dream up new rich and complex creations that are devoid of all function, exist simply for sake of existing, and people will like them, I promise.
The Ancient World was painted in Vibrant Color; now all we see is the weather grey stone and broken white Marble Statues, that once Popped Florescent.
There is nothing written anywhere that says, “The lithic artifacts of the 21st Century looking like: this…” That book has not been written yet. We are still in the process of discover; we are in the process of making new things, things that are fresh and bold and look like a lot like that obnoxious 15th Century Mona Lisa, where the colors are too bright, the painting still smells of turpentine and Da Vinci sweat. But eventually, it will become beautiful.
By Elmer Snagnasty
BY:
Dwayne and Bill Earnhardt
of Modern Flint knapping
The turtle man!! Bernhiem Forest Kentucky knap-in with JAKE WEBSTER
20july2013
"Ernie Brown, Jr. (aka the Turtleman) has been diving into murky Kentucky ponds in search of snapping turtles for nearly 40 years. Born and raised in Washington County, Kentucky, he spent his childhood exploring the woods and learning the ways of the animals that occupy them. Turtleman caught his first snapping turtle, a 25-pounder, when he was just seven-years-old, after his father and uncle taught him the risky technique.
Since then, the legend of Turtleman has spread throughout the Blue Grass state and has afforded Ernie a career as an animal rescuer. At the age of 17, he caught his biggest turtle to date, aptly named the "Loch Ness Turtle," a monster snapper weighing close to 55 pounds.
Ernie catches an average of 300 turtles a year and has been injured 33 times. To date, he reckons he's caught over 12,000 turtles.
Prior to devoting all of his time to rescuing and relocating wildlife, Ernie worked an array of hard labor jobs, including cutting boards for whiskey and wine barrels, milking cows and working in construction for nine years. He currently lives off the land deep in the backwoods of Kentucky with his loyal canine companion Lolly"
Turtle man has been on TV for quite some time now, so it was very exciting when he showed up at a Kentucky knap in and bought some "GHOST POINTS" from flintknapper Jake Webster. Turtleman was kind enough to do some of his signatures posses with Jake for a camera. Then he went off andhad fun with some of the other knappers.
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| Due to the great response on the pic of Ernie "The Turtleman" Brown Jr., here is another one to enjoy...... I've spent the day trimming 300 inches of spectacular Amethyst Sage Agate and Fancy Jasper. I'll get a pic up on some of it soon............. Dennis at Kentucky Flintworks |
After 12 action-packed episodes featuring the bare-handed backwoods
animal-trapping skills of "Turtleman" Ernie Brown Jr., Animal Planet
announces a second-season order of CALL OF THE WILDMAN, adding 16 brand-new,
30-minute episodes to premiere in summer 2012, including a special to air as
part of the recently announced Monster Week this spring. The inaugural season
of CALL OF THE WILDMAN delivered an average of nearly 780,000 P2+ viewers and
ranks as the most-watched Animal Planet series
Read more about Animal Planet Renews CALL OF THE WILDMAN Series - BWWTVWorld by www.broadwayworld.com
I first noticed Jake Webster's gallery on Flintknappers .com in August 2011. His unique designs and different style points immediately caught my eyes. As I have wrote before, I believe that thinking outside of the box and making your own new designs is the nature and a sign of a true artist. This is one of the basic tenants of our philosophy at Modern Flintknapping, thus our motto "Keep Pushing the Boundaries of Flintknapping".
In reading his bio on his gallery I seen he credited fellow knapper Ed Mosher as being a big help to him in his knapping development. I am friends with Ed and knew he would be attending the Flint Ridge knapin the following month, so I hoped I could meet Jake there. I meet Ed shortly after arriving at the knapin and he said Jake was coming but I left Ed's booth before Jake arrived. But before I left, someone mentioned in a discussion among several people that Jake was a flintknapping prodigy.
The next day while at my booth two guys came up that I did not know and started looking at our table display. I heard one(who turned out to be Aaron Lincoln) refer to the other as "Jake". I asked, are you Jake Webster? He replied yes. I told him I had been admiring his work on his gallery. I also told him that I had heard someone say he was a flintknapping prodigy. Jake seems like a modest person and I think this embarrassed him a little.
Please visit Jake's gallery on www.flintknappers.com and check out his unique work.
Below is my interview with Jake.
I see on your gallery bio that you started knapping when you was 12 yrs. old and you have been knapping for 11 yrs now, do I have this right? So you are 23 yrs old now?
Yes I am currently 23 and been chipping off and on since I was 12. Field flakes with an antler tine at the start, till walking around the Johnny Appleseed festival I saw a knapper. I was appalled by all the precious flint material he had that in my eyes at the time looked more valuable then gold! I watched and watched until my parents grew tired of the monotonous routine, they had to practically drag me away. Before I left this very generous knapper (Who I don't know and remains anonymous in my memory) grabbed a bag and started piling in the flakes at his feet for me! I remember hearing each "tink" as the flakes collided and thought it was a heavenly sound. The main thing that I took away from watching him was he was "beating" the stone with a large antler! I had to improvise. So one day while shooting my bow in the woods where I live. I found an old butter knife and had an "Ah ha!" moment I instantly ran back to the house grabbed my bowl of material and began striking away. Little did I know this was my first time doing percussion work. So like any kid who gets into mischief as did I because as soon as the back end of my improvised "butter knife bopper" would warp or get to chewed up to continue on, I'd go retrieve another. FROM OUR SILVERWARE DRAWER!! haha.. Mom wasn't very pleased about that one .So I waited until I was able to get my first antler billet from an auctioned off knapping kit. I was very excited.
My first drive in making these points was shear fascination and wanting to know how the heck these ancient guys where able to send a flake scar any where and every where on there points. This was all around the same time that I was getting into traditional archery and was always curious if one of these stone points would actually "do the trick", of course since man had been using them for thousands of years there was no doubt in my mind that they were stone hard killers. I then started toying with the idea of wanting to try to haft up a point and actually try. but had no knowledge of where to begin really.. Around age 15 I was able to produce thick, wavy, unstraight points that I was very proud of yet couldn't seem how to thin out my works.. It took me one more whole year just to learn how to do the "thinning" process and it just happened. Flintknapping was on my mind 24/7 I had the "bug" and so it wasn't uncommon for me to wake up in the morning and while laying in bed think of new tactics and avenues of approach in this challenging time. Most ideas ended in frustration and never panned out, but the few that did lead me further down the rabbit hole in getting a little better.
And you started out making points to deer hunt with, is this correct?
So at age 16 I decided it was time to try to kill my first deer with my 50# Slim Line Red Wing Recurve bow. I made the tough decision to pick out my very best point at the time (which was still VERY primitive) and haft it up. I told myself if i'm going to attempt this the deer is owed my very best point it was the most "ethical" thing to do anyhow when I could have been using a perfect modern steel point. So I used a ban saw to cut up three of the arrows that I put together and cut a slit and hafted them with epoxy and artificial sinew and a few days later there I was opening day of archery season with an Indiana Hornstone flint point arrow knocked.When a 6 point buck came trotting in and stopped 20yds broadside to me, I raised my recurve aimed at his arm pit and let her fly. My arrow landed in its designated parking spot that I assigned for it and that deer bucked fell over and took off running. I COULDN'T believe my eyes! I instantly wanted to go see what happened but waited a grueling 30 minutes. Dad and I looked for blood and found none. I instantly felt sick that my point didn't do the trick.. upon following where I'd seen my deer run towards I found my arrow! about 8 inches of blood on the shaft and the point plus some shaft was missing. I took a few more steps and saw my deer dead in front of me 20 yds up! WOW I was excited! I never did retrieve the point however.
You state in your bio that 6 months ago you meet Ed Mosher and Aaron Lincoln and they have helped you improve your flintknapping skills greatly. How did you meet them? In what ways have they helped you?
I met Ed about a year ago at the Johnny Appleseed festival and the battle of 1812 festival. I was 22 at this point and had been entirely self taught only seeing one live knapper when I was a kid. I knew there was still much to learn and just knapping with someone else would greatly help. I watched Ed for awhile and then got a business card from him. I contacted him maybe once every two weeks so I didn't feel like a bother to him and finally asked if I could just come knap with him and get lessons. So Ed was the first other knapper I ever knapped with and I was hooked! He answered so many questions to various things I wanted to do whether by just watching or asking. Upon my departure he gave me a coffee can and bag full of flakes and material. Truly generous. He gave me a contact for Aaron Lincoln who lives in Fort Wayne close to me and since I met him we have been knapping 2 days a week together on average sometimes more or less. Aaron helped me out with learning how to keep my notches from rounding out on me and boosted my confidence in every way! He constanty challenged me to do things I thought way above my skills. But I could never refuse a good challenge and would always strive to meet his request if not that day then I would continue until I achieved what I wanted to achieve. He gave me the skill set to never give up or stop trying.
You have many uniquely designed pieces that I would like to ask you about. Basically my questions for all of them is what is your inspiration for your point designs, do you go through a process to develop these designs or do they just come to you?
First, are the "ghost" points, these were the first to catch my eye on your gallery. You have several variations of them, snyders, corner, heart, and an eccentric. Where did you get the idea for these?
Typically my thought process in designing my points is what would turn heads. I want to get attention and known among my fellow knappers and I'm not going to get that making the same thing every one else makes. So I came up with the "Ghost" point and label each with my name so that I have something out there that is somewhat original to me. Like a signature point in the knapping community. I learned how to do this point style while knapping with Aaron over the winter and fell in love with notching points mainly because I just learned and was still learning how to get them deep. Aaron challenged me to make a fish hook like one he made and I raced to start. I broke so many of those little things and frustration had sunk in.. UNTIL I learned what I was doing wrong. Little did I know that just the slightest torque or bending force you put on a point will snap it every time and thats what I was doing to these hooks! So I grabbed a paint stirring stick cut it to match my leather pad and was able to start cranking out fish hooks! This hollowing out process became very fun to me when the idea hit me. Could this work on a point? with notches?? I don't know how many casualties of nice points I lost through this learning and developing process but it was worth it.
The "Ghost" point style ideas just came through wanting to challenge myself because every time I do I learn immensely.
You also have some small eccentric points, the "watchyamacullit" and the flint ridge point. Is eccentrics some of your favorites?
I love doing eccentrics because they allow me to be creative in any way I want. Nobody can tell me that its wrong like they might if I were going for a replica. Its my own design and they are all almost totally original. That's why I would encourage EVERY flintknapper to try some eccentric work. You will learn a lot the more you do. It helps you understand the stone better because your being challenge more and have less room for error. That means you must be more precise and actually have meaning to why and how you take each flake. Every flintknapper is different and there work is different, no two knappers knap alike, thats why sometimes you can just see a point and say thats a "Mosher" or thats a "Lincoln" etc.. detail is key! Go the extra mile to make it look how you want it. take chance hits your work will show the extra love and pride put in and you might just surprise yourself with what you can do!
You do some animal effigy pieces such as an eagle and buffalo. I really like that you do some designs that aren't in a point design. Have you done other types of animals and any ideas for future ones?
I have done several animals sharks, buffalos, eagles, wolves, bears, indian heads, turtles and even a perched bird. They are time consuming but fun because of the amount of detail required.
Other point designs that I like are the deep notched point, rocket point, crusaders shield and the neat pendant. Any comments on these points?
The "rocket" point is my newest favorite. I love the intricate sleek design and thoroughly have fun doing the fine work involved. I love deep notching as well because it keeps challenging me and my skills brushed up!
You also take some old artifact designs and add your artistic flair to them, such as the sallisaw, lake eerie, columbia and texas duran. Do you like to "amp up" old artifact designs?
Yes I love to "Amp" them up! I feel it adds a little modern in with the old and think it just adds that extra touch to my work. I know that my work doesn't and wont please every one, but as long as each piece appeals to me then im still having fun with my knapping. I find it very fun to push the boundaries of traditional points as well as modern styles. its good to do a little of everything.
As a side note, I find it very interesting that Jake and my father have similar stories as far as how they taught themselves to knap at a young age and went years without any contact with any other knappers. I believe this helps a person to always think outside of the box in their future flintknapping endeavors, because they had to think this way while trying to learn on their own.
I want to thank Jake for doing this interview with us here at The Modern Flintknapper
Ray,
I just want to let you know that, last year, I believe
I figured
out how the Sweetwater Biface, and some similar
blades from the Old World
Paleolithic were made.
Currently, I have heard that there is a flintknapper
who is
using a variation of the technology that I predicted was
used to
create such
bifaces. This particular
flintknapper previously
made videos on replicating the
Sweetwater biface, via direct percussion.
But, he now has
found that he can produce thinner bifaces via
indirect
percussion. The form of indirect percussion involves
placing
the biface on a padded anvil, holding the flaker
horizontally, like a
pressure flaker, and striking down on
the it. This produces large spanning
thinning flakes. If
the flaker has a wide end, such as a basal flaker, then
the
flakes, and flake scars, are wider. If the flaker has a
narrow end,
or is a tine tip, then the flakes, and flake
scars, are narrower, and have
smaller initiations.
In thinning a piece like a large biface,
the
knapper can first remove the larger flakes, with a
thicker flaker, and then
switch to to a smaller tine flaker
to remove smaller flakes, near the tip,
and in isolated
spots. The reason that a padded anvil is used is
because
of the size of the biface.
But, if the biface was small
enough to fit in one's
hand, then the knapper could simply hold it on the
palm of
his hand, while a second person struck the flaker.
This
technology, involving the anvil (or hand), and a flaker
struck on
the broad side, I believe was most clearly
explained by Cushing, during the
end of the 19th
century. Unfortunately, Cushing appears to have
been
ignored by many leading European researchers - the same ones
who
formulated most of what was taught about lithics, in
universities, and among
academics.
Also, modern flintknappers have a very
difficult
time understanding why a basal flaker would
be used, rather than a "baton".
What they do
not understand is that by using indirect percussion,
the
shock - and vibrations - created by the blow, are greatly
reduced.
This allows for the creation of larger, intact
blades, and for creating
thinner bifaces, that do not snap
during production.
I am convinced
that American aboriginal
knappers were thinking about various types of rock,
and
various types of flaking processes, when they worked
stone. I
believe that large bifaces, like the Sweetwater
biface, were made from very
large unifacial spalls. These
flat surfaces can be worked via the indirect
percussion
process, that I had mentioned, because there is far
less
bulbing with the indirect percussion process, and the flakes
tend
to run flatter. Still, if a person did not know that
a uniface was used,
rather than a true biface, then any
remnant flat spots would appear to
resemble the flat spots
found on ground preforms. My prediction is that
these
were actually large unifacial spalls, that were
already quite
thin. The purpose of using such a unifacial
spall would be to utilize the
best portion of the lithic
material, which is typically right under
the cortex.
And, since the the spalls are already quite thin,
the
knapper only needs to flake the surface off, in order to
produce a
large blade. With freehand indirect percussion,
this would probably be
almost impossible, given that
a large unifacial surface spall would be
difficult to hold,
by hand. But, by using a padded anvil, and a
horizontal
punch flaker, the knapper would be able to operate with
much
greater control, with the least amount of
stone
movement.
Anyway, this is information
that no one
really knows. And, the only reason that I
know is because I studied the
records of early observers,
for a number of years, until I was able to track
down
variations of this technology that had been either fully
recorded,
or alluded to, by probably over a half
a dozen observers, in the Americas.
Also, some of the
flintknappers independently invented the "between
the
knees" punch flaker method, which is similar to the
anvil/punch
flaker method that was observed by various
American observers. The problem
with the "between the
knees" method is that the knee tends to move, when
the
flaker is struck, whereas a double block anvil of wood, or
padded
stone, cannot move, at all. I tried to explain this
to people in
the flintknapping crowd, since these
movements can be seen on video. But,
they refused to
listen. The other problem with the between the
knees
method - which some of them have even admitted - is that
their
initiations do not look quite right. Oftentimes, the
initiations are overly
bulbed. The reason why is because
they are propping the end of the punch
tool on the platform,
and pressing together with their legs. The problem is
that
this creates a scenario where the end of the punch tool
"bites"
into the edge, too much, due to leg
pressure, and punch angle, and punch
shoulder contour.
They cannot master the light hold, or the hold just
above
the platform, that had been described by Cushing, because
leg
pressure is being used to hold the punch in place. For
this reason, the
initiations are frequently overly bulbous,
and look "inaccurate", according
to some. Again,
I have tried to explain this to the flintknapping
community,
while trying to point out why the padded anvil is better
than
the "between the
knees hold". They simply do not listen. But, I
have
heard that one knapper appears to now be using the
padded
anvil method that I predicted would work the best, and
his
thinnest Sweetwater biface replications are better
than what he
previously created with direct percussion.
So, eventually, the
flintknapping community will probably
take notice.
Also, the
rationale behind the technology is
so simple, that everyone should
understand it. In fact, I
have let Mexicans help me with my flintknapping.
And,
within a very short time, they have a full grasp of the
indirect
percussion flaking processes, simply by
observation. If we had a group of
teenage knappers who
only used pressure flaking, and one of the teenage
knappers
asked the others how he might be able to flake the stone,
and
create larger flakes, with his pressure flaker, someone
else might say,
"Well, why don't you strike the
flaker, instead of pressing
the
flaker." At that moment the light would come on, and
the
teenage knapper would grab his flaker, and biface, hold
it in pressure
flaking position. Then, he would tell his
buddy to strike down on the
flaker, maybe with a stick. The
strike would produce a flake much larger,
and longer, than a
typical pressure flake. In other respects, the flake
would
look very similar - if not almost identical, since the same
tool
was employed - a deer tine. The concept of
"upgrading" from a manual press,
to a manual blow,
is so simple, and so easy to grasp, that it should
be
child's play, to anyone who sees the processes carried
out. I have
seen Mexicans watch the process, and perfectly
grasp every minute detail of
the process, within a week of
helping me. Even a Mexican, with zero
knowledge of
flintknapping, can rapidly learn the entire process, to
the
point that he can improve on various details of the
process, such as
platform thickness, etc. But, if you
show the process to some of the
"world's leading
flintknappers", they remain mute, and act
mystified.
Well, the problem is that what I just
explained is the
ABC underlying fundamentals of the
process. So, if a person cannot
understand it (even though
a non-knapper can figure it out, simply by
watching), then
the person has no way to proceed to understand how all
the
rest of the variations actually
work - which makes it impossible
to understand various
recorded accounts of Native American knapper. In my
case,
I not only understand the underlying process, but I now
can
understand how many variations work, in
various
contexts.
In my opinion, the biggest problem in
the
flintknapping movement, is that people do not want
to think. They
want to follow something
"monkey-see,
monkey-do" style. As far as I
can tell, this
approach is the product of the Industrial
Revolution.
A wrench is used for "A". A screwdriver is
used
for
"B". A hammer is used for "C".
This hyper-linear approach,
when applied to understanding
prehistoric flintknapping, is so wrong, on so
many levels,
that the flintknapping community never understands that
it
is hamstringing itself, over and over again, in
terms
of understanding prehistoric lithic
technologies. The approach
is the approach of a modern
mechanic, from the Industrial Revolution era.
Along the
same lines, flintknappers cook stone like crazy, to make
it
"workable". They do not understand that
variations of different
processes, which are going
unrecognized, is what was used to work stone.
In
other words, prehistoric knappers thoughtfully modified
various
flaking in order to work various grades of stone.
In doing so, prehistoric
knappers were able to retain the
original tensile strength of the stone,
which led to long
tool life. In comparison, modern knappers destroy
a
stone's inherent tensile strength, through massive
cooking in
commercial kilns, in order to make it
"workable". In some cases,
the
stone becomes so brittle that it could be chipped with
one's
fingernails, while the mantra is, "All that
matters is a finished
point"
My conclusion is that aboriginal lithic technologies cannot
be
directly understood, via modern flintknapping. My
conclusion is that it is
only when modern flintknapping is
strictly designed to follow known
anthropological data, that
we can begin to get a picture as to what went on,
in the
realm of ancient/aboriginal
flintknapping.
Take
care, Ben
   |
Anthony Raimondi Yellville, ARK
|
 |
| Anthony Raimondi Yellville, ARK |
 |
| Anthony Raimondi Yellville, ARK 2013 World Notching Champion!!! |
 |
| Marion Fillancq, female French flintknapper. |
Marion Fillancq
 |
| Marion Fillancq's knapping tool. |
 |
| Marion Fillancq's biface potato head CHRIS NICHOLS |
 |
CHRIS NICHOLS, AGEE POINTS |
wrote:
Hey Ray,
Here is the edge to edge article. I am having problems attaching the
pictures to this email so i will send them in another email as attachments. In
the article is say "below are some pictures" so i guess you could add the
pictures at the bottom of the article.
If you have any suggestions for this article, let me know. It is fairly
short because there isn't alot i can say without saying stuff that may sound
arrogant.
The ultimate goal at Modern Flintknapping is "Keep Pushing the Boundaries of
Flintknapping". By this, we mean to convey that we believe it is good for
flintknappers to develop new designs, techniques and ideas in flintknapping
which encourages a flintknapper to explore their artistic ability and flair.
With this in mind, Bill Earnhardt developed a new and different type of
edge to edge flaking. Bill's edge to edge flaking is parallel in contrast to the
traditional type of edge to edge flaking seen in Type 1C Danish daggers which is
oblique. There are only a handful of modern flintknappers that I know of that
have ever accomplished edge to edge flaking and as far as I am aware of their
edge to edge flaking has always been made with oblique flakes.
Below are some pictures of example of Bill's parallel edge to edge flaking
in knife blades and dagger. There are also short videos for much better viewing
on our YouTube channel. Here are the direct links to the videos
We are not in anyway trying to diminish anyone doing traditional
flintknapping work or who does replication of traditional types of
flintknapping. Actually, contrary to that, I enjoy many types of traditional
pieces and specifically I appreciate traditional oblique edge to edge flaking
very much.
PSK Knappers,
When I was
asked to take over the responsibility for publishing the Puget Sound Newsletter
‘SPALLS’ and decided that the addition of a PSK website could/would help get the word out, I
didn’t want the website to be my website but to be the PSK member’s website.
Members support, contributions and participation were the keys to a successful
PSK website.
The same
concept should govern the efforts towards a Western Regional Knap-in – it should
be organized and run by and for the knappers of the West. How we do this has
been a question in my mind for some time. I’ve given it a fair amount of
thought and will throw out a suggestion – create an advisory group from the
various knapping associations/key players in the west along the lines of the
PSK Council of Elders. Recipients of this email would make up the core of this
group.
I’ve come to
this point in the planning process due to the interest the Western Regional
Knap-in has generated within the PSK. Along with the strong interest have come
some questions brought up within our ‘Council of Elders’(COE) as to how we’ll
run the knap-in. For those that may not know, the Puget Sound Knappers
Association has no leader (no president, chief, CEO, etc). Instead we rely upon
the advice and guidance of twelve of our most respected members (see http://www.pugetsoundknappers.com/about_us/about_us.html).
They not only determine what goes into our newsletter ‘SPALLS’, but the content
of our website. They have also established ‘Puget Sound Knappers Knap-in Best Practices
Guide’ to help
host/potential hosts conduct a knap-in.
Anyway, back to the question that has been raised within the PSK COE – how will ‘we’ conduct the Western Regional Knap-in vis-à-vis PSK Knap-in? The members of our council would like to see the key features of PSK knap-ins included in the Western Regional Knap-in. These basic features of our knap-in go back twenty years and are pretty much taken for granted by our members. Suffice to say that there would be a high correlation between attendance and ‘features’.These ‘features’ are as follows (along with comments):
Anyway, back to the question that has been raised within the PSK COE – how will ‘we’ conduct the Western Regional Knap-in vis-à-vis PSK Knap-in? The members of our council would like to see the key features of PSK knap-ins included in the Western Regional Knap-in. These basic features of our knap-in go back twenty years and are pretty much taken for granted by our members. Suffice to say that there would be a high correlation between attendance and ‘features’.These ‘features’ are as follows (along with comments):
1. Free
admission/open to the public - charging admission would substantially reduce if
not eliminate participation by PSK members. We have ALWAYS more than covered
the cost through voluntary donations.
2. Free
knappable rock (host, co-host provided) – PKS members will contribute
3. Free
instruction - members do not charge for providing lessons at a PSK Knap-in
(pointless as PSK members will provide free instruction regardless of
policy)
4. Free loaner
tools (hosts and members provide) - PSK members can/will provide
5. Free
safety glasses and gloves (hosts and members provide) PSK members
can/will
6. One free
Potluck Dinner - Host provides entrée – TBD (host council will provide
entrée???)
Recipients of
this email/Western Regional Knap-in Planning Group:
Jim Keffer –
PSK (I’ve received authorization from the PSK COE to act in their
behalf)
Ray Harwood –
Bakersfield Knappers
Gary Pickett -
Bakersfield Knappers
Bo Earls – Utah
Valley Knappers
Dino Labiste –
California Knappers
Tom Dodge –
Arizona (PSK)
Jim Winn –
Nevada - independent
Sincerely,
James
C. Keffer aka ‘Reefer’
Proud
Member of the Puget Sound Knappers AssociationChief
– PSK Clan of the Ooga Booga Tribe 
Webmaster
– PugetSoundKnappers.com
Publisher
– SPALLS, Official Newsletter of the PSK
The Volgu Replica
BY:
Dwayne and Bill Earnhardt
of Modern Flint knapping
This Volgu replica is 11.63 inches long and 3.2 inches wide, it is .26 inches thick at the thickest point with an average diameter of .25 inches. It has a standard W/T ratio of 12.3/1 and average W/T ratio of 10.2/1. The average W/T is lower due to the shape and size of the Volgu artifact blade itself.(not being as wide throughout the length of the blade).
The Volgu artifact itself(also pictured) is 13.75 inches long, 3.4 inches wide and "slightly over" .25 inches in diameter. If you use .25 inches this gives it a stand W/T ratio of 13.6/1. We have no way to figure an average diameter or average W/T ratio because there is no cast available of the blade. The problem lies in the "slightly over" part, because if the blade is actually .27 inches thick, that slight difference brings the W/T down to 12.6/1, right in line to our current replica. This is an example of why precise measurements are needed when figuring W/T ratios. Here is a good link to learn more about the Volgu and see more pictures. http://www.lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/2008januarysolutreanpage1.htm Here is a link to some other pictures I recently found http://paleobox.forumactif.com/ou-voir-des-originaux-f12/les-feuilles-de-laurier-de-volgu-t241.htm
UPDATE: I have learned there is actually a cast of the Volgu which can be purchased from someone in France, although it is very expensive. My friend Jim Winn has purchased the cast and although it is thin, it isn't a thin as the Sweetwater. Hopefully in the future I will have the opportunity to measure the Volgu cast.
NEOLITHICS
"Neolithics is a company that deals with top of the line
customers from all over the world. We have participated in the research of
obsidian for surgical scalpels to being featured in prestigious museums and
galleries. Along with numberous awards for excellence, artisan Craig Ratzat has
established a place in the flintknappers's "Hall of Fame". His
fascination with this art form has spanned a period of approximately forty
years.
It all began at the age of six when finding an arrowhead in
his parent's garden. It was the start of a long journey that took him from
terrorizing his sisters with makeshift bow and arrow to working with some of
the best teachers of flint knapping available. Craig is now one of those
teachers himself. He has produced two very successful DVD's and teaches
workshops throughout the year."
LEAKY- AFRICA: For many of my generation, it was the fabulous National Geographic specials that forged out interest in archaeology and flintknapping. It was a large gray haired man with a South African acfcent and a Britsh Leland Land Rover. It was Dr. Luis Leaky. Dr Leaky was born near Nairobi, Kenya. His parents were missionaries there in Kenya and young Louis grew up along side children of the Kkuyu tribe. He learned early the knowledge of primative skills, including flint working. Dr. Leakey went to cambridge University, majoring in Anthropology. Leaky landed a job on an international archaeological mission to Tanzia as soon as he graduated. Luis Married Mary in 1936. During WWII Leaky was a spy. It was 1949 when Leaky discovered the first Proconsul skull, a missing link. Dr. Leaky did many television specials for National Geographic and often incruded flintknapping and use of the stine tools. Dr. Luis Leaky died at age 69 of a heart attack. Ray Harwood (Flintknapping Digest 1984)
Antiquity Vol 82 Issue 318 December 2008 Louis Leakey: man and myth Julie Lawrence Louis Leakey in the early 1950s. Photograph courtesy of Meave Leakey.Louis Leakey's pioneering life is wrapped in folklore. His astonishing success in finding major fossils demonstrating human evolution was attributed to 'Leakey's Luck'. His wife, Mary Leakey, is often regarded as the talented excavator of the partnership, a view mentioned in many of my interviews with archaeologists. However, attributing Louis�s achievements to good fortune and implying that Mary was the only talented excavator undermines the true intelligence and real determination that drove Louis Leakey�s own career. Unpublished field reports, personal correspondence and official records held at St John�s College Archives and at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge tell us that, as a young man, Leakey was greatly valued for his hard-won, pragmatic, field expertise and skill. The fact that, in his later collaborative work with Mary, he took the role of fund-raiser and public figure has overshadowed his own earlier proven ability as an archaeologist. As an undergraduate, in 1924, Louis Leakey took a year away from his studies for health reasons. Because of his intimate knowledge of the environment, people and language of East Africa, he was chosen to participate in an expedition with the British Museum of Natural History. Reports by Jack Driberg and Wynfrid Duckworth, held at St John�s College, acknowledge the advantages that Leakey�s previous knowledge and childhood association with East Africa gave to his anthropological work. The leader of the expedition, William Cutler, left the responsibility of practical arrangements, such as securing the water supply and camp equipment, to Leakey. Cutler noted in his diary, 'Leakey very low with malaria, temperature 104; Leakey still has malarial symptoms . . . but he superintended ditches 4, 5 and 6 all day' (Cutler as quoted in Morell 1995: 31). While Leakey benefited from the experience of running an expedition, Cutler was fortunate to have his practical awareness of the provisions needed in Africa as well as Leakey�s ability to endure arduous conditions while working productively. In 1926, at the age of 22, Leakey embarked as leader of his own East African Archaeological Expedition. Field reports and correspondence sent to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology reveal that Leakey was a capable excavator, field worker, organiser and fund-raiser. This was in part due to the initiative he took to teach himself, acting upon his interests and investigating allied subjects such as geology. From the very beginning, he also demonstrated an impressive knowledge of lithic typology and technology. For example, in his November 1928 field report, Leakey analysed the assemblages from six different sites to address the then topical idea of migration of races and their associated industries. And, in three months of 1929 alone, he sent a total of 148 cases of specimens home to England. In the St John�s College Referees' report on Leakey�s Fellowship dissertation in 1928, Haddon wrote a glowing report describing Leakey as 'an efficient field geologist, a well-trained archaeologist, well able to tackle a problem in technology, and, unexpectedly, he has shown that he is a competent craniologist'. On the basis of his first two East African Archaeological Expeditions, Leakey was one of the first in Britain to be awarded the newly instituted PhD degree. Before 1935, he successfully led another two expeditions. On the fourth expedition, Leakey invited the established geologist Percy Boswell to inspect sites at Kanam and Kanjera where he had found fossils that were exciting scientific interest in Europe. Unfortunately, due to circumstances that were largely out of Leakey�s control, Boswell returned with a negative report. He published a damning article in Nature regarding the accuracy of Leakey�s archaeological methods (Boswell 1935). Boswell�s influence tainted Leakey�s reputation as an archaeologist for years afterwards. This may be the origin of the myth that Leakey was a careless excavator. However, Boswell did not work in the vast, uncharted landscape of East Africa where it was extremely difficult to distinguish and to mark securely a specific spot. Further consideration of the conditions surrounding this incident suggest that Leakey may have been judged unfairly. It would seem that previous biographical work and commonly-held views do not reflect the complexity and quality of Leakey�s character and abilities. Leakey�s skill as a young archaeologist has not been fully recognised. The usual perception of a man who was not patient or meticulous enough to be a dedicated, detailed excavator is undeserved. Leakey took on immense research projects early in his career and saw them to fruition. The folklore surrounding Leakey's life fails to portray the more enlightening reality. References BOSWELL, P.G.H. 1935. Human remains from Kanam and Kanjera, Kenya Colony. Nature 135: 371. LAWRENCE, J. 2008. Louis Leakey at Cambridge and beyond: 1925–1935. Unpublished MPhil thesis, LCHES, University of Cambridge. MORELL, V. 1995. Ancestral passions: the Leakey family and the quest for humankind�s beginnings. New York: Simon & Schuster. Authors Julie Lawrence History of Archaeology Research Network, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge The International Flintknappers ‘ Hall of Fame and Museum is encouraging individuals of all ages to “Be A Superior Example,” through a new education program as part of a new curriculum to promote healthy habits, while encouraging everyone to live free of drugs and other such substances or vices. It serves as the central point for the study of the history of flintknapping in the United States and beyond, displays flintknapping-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in the craft, research/ writing, promoting events, and serving the knapping community in an ethical and wilderness loving manner.
<
Thanks for the update. I want to make a few points that may help the
people who you are communicating with. First, it appears that Grace Nicholson
did do a full documentary on Orcutt's method, at least the part done at his
workshop. So, tracking down her documentation might be more productive than
following the work of Kroeber, and others.
Also, in the .pdf the author uses Goddard's description of a Hupa tool kit,
from the early 1900's. In my opinion, this description is incomplete, because
it lacks the "pitching tool", that was recorded by Ray, among the Hupa, during
the 1880's, and was later confirmed by Mason, during the 1890's. The known use
of the "pitching tool" also appears to have been confirmed, among the Yana, by
Sapir, in 1910, through an orally recorded tribal myth. And, the pitching tool
was featured, as part of the Hupa's arrowmaking kit, at the Columbian Historical
Exposition, I believe in 1895. So, I do not think that the description, given
by Goddard, in 1903, is as complete as the references, starting with Ray. Also,
during the 1880's, Ray wrote that no one under the age of forty could make stone
tools. By the early 1900's Goddard would have been more disconnected than Ray,
because another twenty years had elapsed.
Thanks for the information, and keep up the good work. Maybe, we will be
able to find out exactly how these tools were used. Hopefully, there will be
some archaeological link to the past. Do you know whether any large antler plug
like tools are known from the archaeological record, in the obsidian bearing
areas, of the Northwest?
Ben
Children of Many Colors Powwow
BY: CORINA ROBERTS
Gary Pickett is an excellent FLINTKNAPPING teacher. He has the gift of teaching and has a lot of patience with us,” said Jim Boatman, 65, of Tehachapi.
Pickett’s interest in flintknapping came more than 20 years ago when he began finding old arrowheads in the creeks of southern Missouri where he grew up. He was fascinated by the arrowheads and thought he could make them himself.
“I just started beating two rocks together,” said Pickett, 48, who moved to Bakersfield in 1997.
It was five years of trial and error before he made much progress, but moving to Bakersfield and meeting Harwood through a flintknapping Web site helped both of them progress faster. They decided to meet every month and work on rocks, but didn’t expect for the small group to grow like it did. Gary has been knapping at the Moorpark Children of Many Colors Powwow for many years. Each year he makes a rainbow obsidian biface of enormous size and auctions it off for hundreds of dollars and donates the proceeds to the powwow. Over the years Gary has donated many thousands of dollars.
Pickett’s interest in flintknapping came more than 20 years ago when he began finding old arrowheads in the creeks of southern Missouri where he grew up. He was fascinated by the arrowheads and thought he could make them himself.
“I just started beating two rocks together,” said Pickett, 48, who moved to Bakersfield in 1997.
It was five years of trial and error before he made much progress, but moving to Bakersfield and meeting Harwood through a flintknapping Web site helped both of them progress faster. They decided to meet every month and work on rocks, but didn’t expect for the small group to grow like it did. Gary has been knapping at the Moorpark Children of Many Colors Powwow for many years. Each year he makes a rainbow obsidian biface of enormous size and auctions it off for hundreds of dollars and donates the proceeds to the powwow. Over the years Gary has donated many thousands of dollars.
| Katianna Warren, Fancy Shawl Dance, Eagle and Condor Powwow 2013 An Indian Princess. It sounds like a fairy tale. But there are princesses today, and they are role models for their peers and sources of pride and inspiration for their communities. Katianna Warren of the Navajo Nation will don a crown and sash in July. She will be the first ever Redbird powwow princess. She will be introduced to the arena as a prin...cess just before Grand Entry on Saturday, July 20 at the Children of Many Colors Powwow. As she dances around the arena, her family and friends will accompany her, following behind her, proud and exuberant. Katianna is 14 years old. She dances fancy shawl in the Navajo style, which is a bit more reserved than the way many young women dance; there is a sense of dignity and modesty executed that characterizes the way young Navajo women are expected to carry themselves in society. As a princess, Katianna will represent the Children of Many Colors Powwow everywhere that she goes in the Native American community. More importantly, she will represent the Navajo Nation and the Native American community by participating in powwows and other events, and through that commitment, Katianna will learn things. She will learn many of the songs and dances that are a part of gatherings and ceremonies, because she will be expected to participate fully whenever possible and appropriate. She will learn the unique culture of the California powwow circle and she will be introduced to many new friends. Being a "powwow princess" is more than a crown and a sash. It is a way of recognizing the potential of a young woman in her community, as well as he character and accomplishments. It is both acknowledgement and encouragement. For Katianna, we hope this will be the first of many crowns. We hope that she will gain the recognition of the Native American community and beyond, so that this will open doors for her, particularly as she forms her educational goals. Finally, we are very excited that Johnny Nieto, Tule River Yokuts, our head man dancer in 2012 who graduated this May from Moorpark College, will lead the grass dancers out in front of Katianna. They won't have a lot of tall, unruly grass to beat down...they will be clearing the spiritual path for her, making good the ground that she dances on, taking their historical role seriously and in a meaningful way. Congratulations, Katianna. We will be supporting you on this very special day, and we will stand by your side as you go through your life. |
| Katianna Warren This is Katianna Warren (think flintknapper Matt Ashmore and Cydnee Ashmore and she will be the first ever powwow princess at the 2013 Children of Many Colors Powwow. |
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shalom All,
We are happy to introduce the workshop webpage, and we hope
you will
find it interesting and useful.
Do not hesitate to contact
us in any matter, and we will be happy to
ave you with us at the
workshop
all the
best
Ran,Crostina and Manuel
Ran Barkai,
Associate Professor
Department of Archaeology
Tel-Aviv
University
Tel-Aviv 69978
Israel
TEL 0544295988; 046272207
web page
Qesem
Cave website
Ray,
Sure let them know the beer blue glass works. Here is the fire
Schedule:
Bud Light Platinum Arrowheads
Crush bottles into small
pieces
Spoon into bottle slump molds coated in mold release
Heat at
400 deg/hour to 1880 deg F
Hold for 4 hours
Drop at 400 deg/Hour to
1200 deg F
Hold for 4 hours
Drop at 100 deg/hour to 200 deg F
Open lid
and cool to outside temp
And Ray, Drink water, lots and lots of
water!!!!!!!!!!!
John Piri
Hüter der Erde Festival 2012Ein genialer Ort um viele Profis bei ihrer Arbeit zu beobachten, ihr Wissen zu erfahren und Kontakte zu knüpfen. Viele Wildnisschulen, Spezialisten ihres Faches kommen als Workshopleiter aus ganz Europa hier zusammen und bieten eine ganze Woche ihre Fertigkeiten an. Sie kommen um adas Alte Wissen unserer Vorfahren zu teilen. Hier bist du Hautnah am Geschehen. Ein Angebot für die ganze Familie
Bogenbauer,Flintknapper, Gerber, Schmiede, Pflanzenleute, Scoutleute, Kampfkunst, Töpfer, Korbflechter, Primitive Art Museum und sagenhaft vieles mehr........Es gibt super Angebote für Teilnehmer und Familie
Über 100 Workshop´s mit Themen über das Leben in und mit der Natur
Hier geht es zur Website vom Hüter der Erde Verein - www.hde.at
________________________________________________________________________________
Bogenbauer,Flintknapper, Gerber, Schmiede, Pflanzenleute, Scoutleute, Kampfkunst, Töpfer, Korbflechter, Primitive Art Museum und sagenhaft vieles mehr........Es gibt super Angebote für Teilnehmer und Familie
Über 100 Workshop´s mit Themen über das Leben in und mit der Natur
Hier geht es zur Website vom Hüter der Erde Verein - www.hde.at
________________________________________________________________________________
A unique and cherished cultural event is returning to Tehachapi for the third consecutive year: Go Native Day, a celebration of the art and culture of the California Indian people and Flintknapping knap in., will be held on Saturday, Aug. 31, at Centennial Plaza on Green Street in Downtown Tehachapi...
Sunday the 14th Anniversary of Hart Park Knap in!!! BAKERSFIELD
A NEW BOOK HONORING ERRETT CALLAHAN
By Ray Harwood
There are an ever growing number of us that eat and sleep thinking about the crack of obsidian or flint and obsesses on the contours created with each passing chonchoidal fracture. As a kid my heroes were not cowboys, not sports figures either, but flintknappers . Odd maybe, but true. My father showed me a bit about knapping obsidian as a 9 year old and I proceeded to cut off my left little toe, my pop sewed it back on and it looks great, except it does not move.
Long before there was FLINTKNAPPING MAGAZINE there was Flintknapper's Exchange.
Through the late 1970's FE was the bomb! Then it was Flintknapping Digest and Chips. Now it is Flintknapping Magazine. It was Errett Callahan and my other childhood heroes that made that possible. And now here is a book honoring Errett's achievements in lithic technology.
 |
| ERRETT CALLAHAN, BOOK BY RAY HARWOOD |
By: Ray
The Thinking Man: One of the most knowledgeable and talented
flintknappers of our time was a Virginia Flintknapper, whom has
influenced hundreds, if not thousands, Errett Callahan. We can sit
and wonder where Callahan came from and why he was such an influence.
The answer is this, Callahan came into knapping with a great deal of
The International Flintknappers ‘ Hall of Fame and Museum is encouraging individuals of all ages to “Be A Superior Example,” through a new education program as part of a new curriculum to promote healthy habits, while encouraging everyone to live free of drugs and other such substances or vices. It serves as the central point for the study of the history of flintknapping in the United States and beyond, displays flintknapping-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in the craft, research/ writing, promoting events, and serving the knapping community in an ethical and wilderness loving manner. skill, intellegence and strength, at a time when a whole new
generation of archaeologists were coming out of the old school with a
lot of questions. Crabtree had just released his book and was bumping
out students by the bus load. Archaeology was hungry and Callahan was
just what the doctor ordered. He had fresh ideas and an uncanning
knapping ability intertwined the craft and theory like no one before
or since.
In 1956, just out of high school, Errett spent the summer in
Yellowstone National Park working at the Old Faithful general store.
He was exposed to a lot of history at the park and had access to
obsidian, this gave him the start he needed and he began knapping
seriously then and has been doing it full steam ever since, later
combining his early grinding methods as part of his flaking strategy.
It started on a trip out when he was waiting for the train in
Montana. He went into a local library and found a book on various
point types. He was fascinated by this and it sort of plugged some
into his memory. In his spare time he would try to duplicate these,
using small pieces of obsidian and bottle glass and guided only by
the flintknapping picture in Holling's book. It was another 10 years
before Errett realized that there were other people flintknapping. Up
until then he thought he was the only one.
Errett read more and more of Bordes's works and met him several
times. Francois Bordes stayed at Callahan's house for several days in
1977. Bordes, as Errett, was inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs and he
published numerous science fiction novels. Callahan, as a college
student, had once been assigned to be Bordes's escort to a knapping
demonstration sponsored by the Anthropology department in D.C. for
the Leaky Foundation lectures. In 1977 Bordes spent four days
knapping there in Richmond. Bordes had plenty of money to visit the
U.S.A. because not only was he a master flintknapper and Europe's
leading archaeologist, but also one of the most popular science
fiction writers in France. According to Callahan Bordes wrote dozens
of novels under the pen name of Franci Carsac. Callahan was
influenced quite a bit by Bordes. At the same time Errett was also
reading the works of Don Crabtree. Errett was Fascinated by Crabtree,
they met in Calgary in 1974 and Crabtree gradually became a heavy
influence on Errett's knapping. J.B. Sollberger was another major
influence and led Errett to bigger and better things than he could
have without that input. Gene Titmus of Idaho, a friend of Crabtree
was also a major influence on Callahan, mostly his notching and
serrating techniques. Errett stayed in close contact with Gene for
many years, Gene a master knapper of percussion and, like Don, about
the nicest and humblest guy he'd ever met.
Some other overseas influences on Errett were Jacques Pelegrin and Bo
Madsen. Pelegrin had been Bordes number one student in France,
working under him for years. Pelgrin first trained with Bordes over
six summers, for three weeks each summer. Pelegrin worked with a
hardwood billit, which he learned to use from Bordes's friend in
Paris, Jacques Tixier, whom was one of the Masters of flintworking of
the time. Pelegrin became very good with boxwood. Jacques Pelegrin's
father built a cottage in the French woods, here Jacques reflected on
archaeological concepts and flintknapping. At this time, in the
1970s, Pilegrin was writing a bit back and forth to Master Don
Crabtree in the USA and Jacques had begun to read and interprit
Crabtree's publications. Pelegrin did public flintknapping
demonstations in the Archeodrome, which is on the main road between
Beaune and Lyon, France. He is concidered one of the best
flintknappers in the world. Pelegrin and Bordes learned English
together and spend years flintknapping together and learning, master
and student became knapping partners. Jacques Pelgrin went through
almost all the Paleolthic French technologies while learning his
craft- Levallois, blade making, different kinds of Paleolithic tools,
different kinds of flint cores, and leave points, including Solutrean
pressure material. It is an interesting fact that Pelegrin learned to
flintknap standing up and only changes after his first exposure to
other knappers and text.
Bo Madsen is Denmark's premier flintknapper, a grand- master of the
Danish art. Madison is an expert on Danish lithics and earned his
Ph.D. at Arhus in Jutland, Denmark. Madsen's dagger research
influenced Callahan greatly and this spread to America and in this
era many knappers were attempting dagger production: Waldorf, Patten,
Stafford, Flenniken and Callahan in particular. Errett spend a good
deal of time in the 1970s in Scandinavia and returned again in August
of 1984. Madsen had moved over to the University of Arhus and was
teaching a talented portage, Peter Vemming Hansenat at the University
of Copenhagen, the two had co-wrote and published a paper on the
replication of square- sectioned axes. While in Scandinavia Callahan
gave several flintknapping workshops sponsored by the Archaeological
Institute of the University of Uppsala, Sweden, he was assisted by Bo
Madsen and Dr. Debbie Olausson. According to Callahan, the Copenhagen
area has several talented non-academic knappers as well Thorbjorn
Peterson, Asel Jorgensen, and Soren Moses.
In later years Errett's biggest influence was Richard Warren. Richard
was completely underground and out of contact for most of his
knapping life, he became a lapidary knapper that had an exclusive
clientele. Richard Warren's work was incredibly precise, much more
than anyone at the time thought was possible. Errett had to
reconstruct the Warren technique entirely from scratch. Richard
Warren showed Errett one important thing- perfection is possible- and
that's all he needed to know. Richard Warren died a few years ago,
Warren's curiosity was to know what could be done with flint if
someone picks up where the best stone age knappers abandoned the
craft for metal technology or extinction. In short Richard's quest
was for knapping for the sake of art-perfection, by any means
possible. Richard used the term "Teleolithics" to describe what we
now call lapidary knapping, flake over grinding (lap-knapping). After
Hannus' colon operation, in 1983, for which Errett made the obsidian
blades used in the surgery and observed the entire operation, two of
Callahan's students decided to start a company with him to market
these blades to the medical community. The one who was supposed to do
the marketing dropped out and little became of " Aztecnics".
Errett markets his obsidian art through "Piltdown Productions" in
Virginia. Callahan is best known for his published work The Basics Of
Biface Knapping In The Eastern Fluted Point Tradition A Manual For
Flintknappers And Lithic Analysts. This was published in Archaeology
Of North America, . He has also published many other books and
articles. Including: "Flintknappers' exchange" (the original
journal), "The Emic Perspective" and "Flintknapping Digest". The
Basics Of Biface knapping In The Eastern Fluted Point Tradition was
the single most influential lithic book ever written.
The Callahan biface book is Vol. 7, No. 1 of the journal Archaeology
Of Eastern North America. The book introduced many new techniques for
the study of stone tools, for standard and experimental archaeology.
The concepts, "the lithic grade scale, and biface staging, are widely
used in flintknapping circles to the point the most new knappers
didn't even know these concepts were fairly new and discovered by
Callahan.
As Crabtree before him Callahan was the only living flintknapper with
the confidence to have major surgery done with stone tools he crafted
himself. According to the news release on December 9th, 1998, Errett
Callahan had major surgery done to repair his right rotator cuff
tendon. The two hour landmark operation was done by Dr. Jay Hopkins
of Blue Ridge Orthopedics at Lynchburg General Hospital. Callahan's
rotor cuff tendon had become completely torn off the top of his
humerus bone and had to be extensively reworked. Dr Hopkins said that
it was as bad a tear as he had ever witnessed. All incisions were
made with Callahan's obsidian scalpels. Dr. Hopkins, after performing
the operation, was impressed with the great reduction of bleeding in
the initial incisions and states: I used the obsidian blade for a
shoulder operation and found them quite satisfactory. They performed
very much like a scalpel and the bleeding with the first cut through
the skin was minimal. Healing appears to be very much normal, if not
accelerated.
Errett Callahan was founder and president of the Society of Primitive
Technology for many years . The Society is an international
organization devoted to the preservation of a wide range of primitive
technologies. The SPT preserves and promotes this knowledge
principally by means of a remarkable magazine, the Bulletin of
Primitive Technology. Errett has now retired from his editor and
chief and president but he will stay an active member. For more
information contact Society of Primitive Technology, P.O. Box 905,
Rexburg, Id 83440. The Bulletin is now being edited and produced by
Primitive skills expert David Wescott. At this time Errett Callahan
is in the midst of writing a major book on flintknapping - everything
he knows...and he knows a lot..The book is going to focus a on Danish
Daggers. The book is addressed to both the archaeologist and
flintknapper a like. This book is a 20-year research project in which
200 daggers were replicated. The research was funded by a grant from
the King of Sweden and by Uppsala University. Callahan is cowritting
the book with Jan Apel, a PhD student at Uppsala and fellow
flintknapper. The new book will do for daggers what his biface book
did for that field. Callahan is also working on a book on
experimental archaeology.
Callahan still puts on his week long classes at Cliff Side on
flintknapping, traditional archery, primitive pottery, lithic
analysis, and more. Bob Verrey, a former student and long time
flintknapper, archaeologist and supplier of knapping tools offers a
scholarship to the school but it is very competitive. .
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Saturday June 3, 2006 - 10:22am (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for June 03, 2006
Entry for June 03, 2006 magnify
Crabtree, often referred to as "the Dean of American
flintknapping". He was born June 8, 1912, in Heyburn, Idaho.
According to Harvey L. Hughett of the University of Idaho: Don spent
his early youth in Salmon, Idaho where he first became interested in
Indians and their tools. His mother would have him run errands for
the next-door neighbor and as a reward this woman would give Don an
arrowhead which her husband had gathered. Young Don became fascinated
with these tools and even at this early age began to wonder why and
how they were made. There were, at this time, many Indians in Salmon.
Thanks to Harvey Hughett, at the University of Idaho, whom is now
curator of the Don Crabtree Lithic Collection, we now know much more
about Don Crabtree's childhood. I spoke to Mr. Hughett a few in
October of 1999 (Val Waldorf had no problem either) he gave me
permission to quote his copyright article on Don Crabtree in Chips
Vol. 11, No.3, 1999.: "Young Don became fascinated with these tools
and even at this early age began to wonder why and how they were
made. There were, at this time, many Indians in Salmon. Their custom
was to sit flat on the sidewalk with their legs stretched in front of
them. Don found it great fun to jump over their legs and to talk with
them, for which he was severely reprimanded by his mother.
When Don was six, his Family moved to Twin Falls. This was desert
country and Don spent most of his time hunting for artifacts, Indian
campsites and building his collection of Indian tools. The family's
home was just a stone's through from the Snake River Canyon and Don
spent every possible moment hunting in the canyon, collecting from
campsites and caves and adding to his collection. He also collected
obsidian flakes and began to try to reproduce the artifacts. This
meant more trips to the canyon for knapping material. Soon, young
Crabtree had gathered a fairly large collection of artifacts and his
interest in experimenting with different stones and methods of
manufacture to achieve replication increased. He tried many
approaches to holding and applying force but with little success and
much failure. After interviewing many local Indians, he was
disappointed that he was unable to learn anything of how these
fascinating artifacts were made. Flintknapping was essentially a lost
art even at the time.
Don was constantly in trouble with his father for being away from
home so much, for the many cuts on his hands and the permanent
bloodstains on his clothing. He received many reprimands for coming
home after dark. Even this did not cure him of his quest for
knowledge of the Native Americans and their tools. At one point, his
father became so disgusted with Don spending so much time knapping he
offered to pay him $100.00 if he would promise never to make another
arrowhead. Don wanted a bicycle and a gun so badly that he considered
this offer for some time. However, the love of Indian lore won and he
told his father that he could not give up his attempts to make tools
as the Indians had.
In the late 1930's he was supervisor of the Vertebrate and
Invertebrate Laboratory at the University of California at Berkley,
this is also where Ishi's artifacts are curated. Also, Ted Orcutt
still lived not far to the North. Crabtree also worked in the
Anthropology lab with the well known Anthropologist Alfred Krueber,
whom was Ishi's friend and caretaker at the museum a few short years
before. According to Dr. Errett Callahan (1979), following a
flintworking demonstration at a meeting of the American Association
of Museums in Ohio, in 1941, Crabtree was employed at the Ohio State
Lithic Laboratory with H. Holmes Ellis and Henry Shertrone. He was
also advisor in Lithic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and
the Smithsonian Institution's museum.
During world war II, Crabtree was coordinating Engineer with
Bethlehem Steel in California. Between 1952 and 1962, he was County
Supervisor with the U.S.D.A in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 1962 and 1975,
Crabtree was research associate in lithic technology at the Idaho
State Museum in Pocatello."
Not only was Crabtree a master flintknapper and an inspirational
flintknapper , he was also an expert on the theoretical aspect of
stone tool studies. Crabtree published papers on replicative
flintworking and other aspects of lithic studies in such publications
as:
"American Antiquity" (1939,1968), "Current Anthropology"
(1969), "Science" (1968,1970), "Curator" (1970), "Tebiwa" (1964,
1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973,1974), and "Lithic Technology" (1975).
Crabtree's textbook, "An Introduction to Flintworking", was the main
publication readily available from 1972 on. The Crabtree book,
although 26 years old, is still a classic and is one of the most
referenced books in lithic studies today. The book is easy to read
and is full of excellent drawings and text. The book is available
through the Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State University,
Pocatello, Idaho. They also have republished Crabtree's articles,
papers, and videos, his articles are better than ours decades later.
Crabtree was featured in many archaeological films in his day, many
were shown around the world in class rooms from elementary school to
doctoral classes. These films influence many up and coming
flintknappers. The film "Blades and Pressure Flaking" (1969) won best
anthropology film at the 1970 American Film Festival.
In 1972, the Idaho Museum of Natural History received a grant from
the National Science Foundation for the production of several 16mm
films featuring the legendary flintknapper. Just a few years ago
these films were dubbed onto VHS video tape and made available to the
public through Idaho Museum Publications. Though faded somewhat, this
footage still maintains its detail and shows Don Crabtree at his
best. In the Shadow of Man , Don is shown quarrying obsidian at Glass
Buttes in Oregon. The Flintworker discusses the basics of
flintknapping, stone tools are made using simple percussion
techniques, and the Hertzian cone theory is introduced. Ancient
Projectile Points covers the making of bifacial points. The hunter's
Edge covers prismatic blade making. The Alchemy of Time concerns heat
treating, and the manufacture of Clovis, Folsom and Cumberland
points. In 1978, Crabtree had open heart surgery with stone tools.
The blades Crabtree made were so sharp that Crabtree's doctor agreed
to use them on him after seeing how sharp they were. The first
surgery one of Crabtrees's Ribs and a lung section were removed, an
18 inch cut. Crabtree's stone tools were so sharp that there was
hardly a scar.
Don Crabtree flintknapped all types of artifacts including fluted
Folsom , parallel flaking, chevron flaking, notching, blade making
and even Ted Orcutt style large obsidian biface points. His large
points were very similar to Orcutts , some were so thin that they
looked like dinner plates, his obsidian arrow points were very
similar to those he helped to curate in Berkley made by Ishi.
While working agate Crabtree noticed that his had a satiny texture
and the Indian arrowheads out of the same material were like opal.
After much experimentation he rediscovered heat treating of flint
materials to improve knapping quality.
In the later part of his life Crabtree traveled the world meeting and
flintknapping with each nations leaders in lithic fields of endeavor
and really opened the door for all of us. During this time
flintknapping saw its heyday, "knap-ins", lithic conferences and
publications. Sort of what is happening now but with the
academics.
Don Crabtree, Dean of American flintknappers, died on November 16,
1980 from complications of heart disease, within six months of
Francois Bordes . When Bordes and Crabtree passed away the 1970's
academic flintknapping heyday passed away with Them. THE PALEO
KNAPPERS : The Late Don Crabtree, of southern Idaho, is considered to
be the "Dean of American Flintknapping" not only for his fine
publications, but also for the vast amount of important information
he uncovered in a life devoted to the study of stone tools. Don was
most probably the first flintknapper in thousands of years to flute a
Folsom point, as early as 1941 Crabtree was employed at the Lithic
Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and the prestigious
Smithsonian Institution. He had experimented with fluting in the
1930s but became quite famous for his studies into the Lindenmier
Folsom in 1966 . Don Crabtree passed away on November 16, 1980.
Jeffery Flenniken and Gene Titmus, students of Crabtree carried on
the studies and are still considered to be among the best
flintknappers in the world.
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