![]() ![]() 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. ![]() ![]() After his first decade of work, he studied with such Master-level flint knappers as Don Crabtree, Gene Titmus, François Bordes, J. #Make obsidian scalpel trialHe 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. 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.įlint knapping and experimental archaeology Ĭallahan first began flint knapping in 1956. #Make obsidian scalpel seriesThis 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. After the Wagner Basalt Quarry project, Callahan began an even more ambitious undertaking in 1974 with the multi-phased Pamunkey project. In 1973, Callahan and his students continued their experimental work at the Wagner Basalt Quarry project in northern Arizona, where they constructed and lived in a reproduction Desert Archaic encampment much in the same way they did at the Old Rag project. 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. The first, the Old Rag project, was an Early Woodland encampment experiment conducted in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in 1972. 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. 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. While at Catholic University, Callahan served as an instructor of anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University until 1977. 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. Callahan’s work mainly focused on experimentation and replication of aspects of Native American archaeology. between 19 where he completed his Master’s and doctoral work. Ĭallahan attended The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. 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. He received his Master of Fine Arts in 1977. In 1969 Callahan enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, where he studied painting and modern art. 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. Callahan became a free-lance artist and went instead to East Africa in 1965 where English was readily spoken. While at Hampden-Sydney Callahan majored in French to better prepare himself for the missionary work in West Africa he hoped to do after graduation. 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.Ĭallahan attended Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia from 1956 to 1960. 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’s interest in the outdoors and Native American lifeways began quite early on.
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