The Sabertooth - 1987 Limited Edition Obsidian Knife

Callahan, MA, MFA, PhD, Errett

Dr. Callahan is considered to be a master and foremost authority of the art of flintknapping.I have a master's and a doctorate in anthropology (with emphasis in lithic technology and experimental archeology respectively) and a masters in Fine Arts. In 1992, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden for my work on the Mesolithic and Neolithic there. Thus I am now on the faculty of Uppsala University, Archeology Department.These degrees may not be responsible for my craftsmanship but they have indeed forced me to think hard about design, about historical context, and about field testing my products. Throughout the 1970s, I pioneered the field of "Living Archeology, conducting subsistence projects in which participants lived off the land for from two to nine weeks under primitive conditions. We used stone knives and other primitive tools exclusively, while testing certain archeological hypotheses. When your life and very material comfort depend exclusively upon your stone tools, you learn a few things about function, design, and craftsmanship. So when I say that my knives are functional, I think I know what I am talking about.