Errett Callahan (December 17, 1937 – May 29, 2019) was an American archaeologist, flintknapper, and pioneer in the fields of experimental archaeology and lithic replication studies.
[1] 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.
At the Old Rag project Callahan and his students produced all of the stone and bone tools used in the construction and subsequent short-term habitation of the site and its dwelling.
This project, located along the Pamunkey River in Tidewater Virginia, consisted of a series of extended (one month) living experiences in Eastern Middle and Late Woodland encampments of their own construction.
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.
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.
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produce the stone tool kit of the Neolithic Danes, including the Neolithic Danish dagger, a highly advanced stone knife originally made to copy the forms of the Bronze daggers being produced in northern and central Europe at that time.
[2] 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.
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.
[3] Callahan originally began his work on nontraditional forms out of a desire to break out of the restrictions of traditional stone knife reproductions.
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.
[4] 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, in November 1989.
[8] 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.
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.