FLINTKNAPPING NOTES AND ARTICLES

Stanley Ahler, Ph.D
Stanley Ahler, Ph.D magnify

Stanley A. Ahler, Ph.D., Research Associate in Anthropology
Archaeology, lithic technology, quantitative methods, North America

I was contacted by Archaeologist Mike Kunz (Alaska) about 10 or 15 years ago about my CHIPS article about tip flutes. Mike had found the perfect tip fluted point, deep preplanned flutes from base and tip. He told me that an Archaeologist in Arizona had found some as well. The archaeologist was Stan Ahler. Dr. Ahler took time out of his hectic day to review his findings and we discussed our many theories of this anomaly. Some of his work below shows what a great resource
he was, and his publications will remain. Thank you Dr. Ahler. Ray

Updated Department News (11/16/06)!!
2006 Department Newsletter & Stan Ahler Award:

Stanley Ahler Receives Distinguished Service Award

Stanley A. Ahler (M.A. 1970; Ph.D 1975) was presented the 2006 Distinguished Service Award at the annual Plains Anthropological Conference in Wichita, Kansas on November 10. Beginning his archaeological work at Rodgers Shelter in Missouri, Stan went on to become an internationally recognized specialist in lithic analysis, and his work along the Missouri River trench in the Dakotas, and elsewhere on the Plains border, has led to landmark studies of prehistoric cultures from Folsom to historic-period Native Americans. Because Stan was too ill to attend the conference, the award was accepted by his long-time friend, Marvin Kay.

Currently, he's the director of {CRG, the PaleoCultural Research Group in Flagstaff, Arizona, a non-profit research and education organization. His studies in lithic technology are legendary, beginning with his master's thesis, "Projectile Point Form and Function at Rodgers Shelter, Missouri " Published in 1971, it became one of the most-cited master's theses in North American archaeology. One of the first studies to build on the work of the pioneering Russian archaeologist S.A. Semenov, it was seminal in its contribution to microscopic use-wear analysis. His recent study of Folsom point technology is especially noteworthy.

Stan was one of the first in the Plains to incorporate geophysical techniques as a routine tool in the investigation of sites. His keen mind mark him as conceptually innovative, rigorous in approach, and tenacious in work habits. He has always conducted himself with integrity and the highest professional standards. His rigorous excavation procedures have set standards for fieldwork in much of the Plains.

He's spent a lifetime in the pursuit of archaeology, during which time he's made substantial and lasting contributions to Plains prehistory and to archaeological studies in general. His career has enriched prehistory and his profession.

Ahler, Stanley A.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1971 Projectile Point Form and Function at Rodgers Shelter, Missouri. Missouri Archaeological Society Research Series 8. Columbia:Missouri.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1979 "Functional Analysis of Nonobsidian Chippd Stone Artifacts: Terms, Variables, and Quantification," in Brian Hayden, ed., Lithic Use-Wear Analysis. New York: Academic Press, 301-328.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1989 "Experimental Knapping with KRF and Midcontinent Cherts: Overview and Applications," in Daniel S. Amick and Raymond P. Mauldin, eds., Experiments in Lithic Technology. BAR International Series 528. Oxford: B.A.R., 199-234.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1992 "Use-Phase Classification and Manufacturing Technology in Plains Village Arrowpoints," in Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology. BAR International Series 578. Oxford: B.A.R., 36-62.

Ahler, Stanley A., and R. Bruce McMillan

1976 "Material Culture at Rodgers Shelter: A Reflection of Past Human Activities," in W. Raymond Wood and R. Bruce McMillan, eds., Prehistoric Man and His Environments. New York: Academic Press, 163-199.

Stanley A. Ahler
American Antiquity, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Jul., 1982), pp. 688-690

Ahler, Stanley A.

1971 Projectile Point Form and Function at Rodgers Shelter, Missouri. Missouri Archaeological Society Research Series 8. Columbia:Missouri.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1979 "Functional Analysis of Nonobsidian Chippd Stone Artifacts: Terms, Variables, and Quantification," in Brian Hayden, ed., Lithic Use-Wear Analysis. New York: Academic Press, 301-328.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1989 "Experimental Knapping with KRF and Midcontinent Cherts: Overview and Applications," in Daniel S. Amick and Raymond P. Mauldin, eds., Experiments in Lithic Technology. BAR International Series 528. Oxford: B.A.R., 199-234.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1992 "Use-Phase Classification and Manufacturing Technology in Plains Village Arrowpoints," in Piecing Together the Past: Applications of Refitting Studies in Archaeology. BAR International Series 578. Oxford: B.A.R., 36-62.

Ahler, Stanley A., and R. Bruce McMillan

1976 "Material Culture at Rodgers Shelter: A Reflection of Past Human Activities," in W. Raymond Wood and R. Bruce McMillan, eds., Prehistoric Man and His Environments. New York: Academic Press, 163-199.

Ahler, Stanley A. Archeological Reconnaissance and Test Excavation at the Jake White Bull Site, 39CO6, Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota. University of North Dakota for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, 1977. 227 pp. A report on an earthlodge village on lands eroding into the Oahe Reservoir. The site was a major fortified earthlodge village occupied in the eleventh century, A.D., by people belonging to the Extended Variant of the Middle Missouri cultural tradition. Approximately 1.3 hectares, or one-fourth of the site, was intact, including the majority of the village fortification system and nine semisubterranean earthlodges.

Ahler, Stanley A. Evaluation of the Condition of the Travis II Archaeological Site, 39WW15, Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota, November, 1979. University of North Dakota for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, 1980. 25 pp. Evidence of a ten per cent to 15 per cent loss of intact cultural deposits from shoreline erosion since the first report of this site in 1976 indicates that mitigative action should be taken.

Ahler, Stanley A. Lithic Resource Utilization Patterns in the Middle Missouri Subarea. Plains Anthropologist 22, no. 78, pt. 2; Memoir 13 (1977): 132-151. Evaluates and expands Lehmer's (1954) suggestion that Middle Missouri Tradition and Coalescent Tradition populations practiced distinctly different lithic resource exploitation patterns. Defines 12 stone types and compares frequency of occurrence in support of Lehmer's observations.

Ahler, Stanley A. Pattern and Variability in Extended Coalescent Lithic Technology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri, Dept. of Anthropology, 1975. The chipped stone assemblages from two Extended Coalescent Variant earth lodge villages, the Lower Grand Site (39CO14) and the Walth Bay Site (39WW203), were analyzed with the goal of evaluating function, technology, systemic context, and style.

Ahler, Stanley A., et. al. Archeological Reconnaissance and Test Excavation at the Travis 2 Site, 39WW15, Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota. University of North Dakota for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, 1977. 135 pp. Exploration at this site because of Oahe reservoir shoreline erosion indicated evidence of several thousand years of intermittent human occupation extending through much of the early and middle Holocene. Evidence of a single, early period of occupation estimated to date between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago make this site unique within the Middle Missouri subarea.

Ahler, Stanley A. Holocene Stratigraphy and Archeology in the Middle Missouri River Trench, South Dakota. Science 184, no. 4139 (1974): 905-908. Shoreline erosion exposed stratified preceramic cultural remains. The Walth Bay site contained a 7000-year sequence of alluvial and eolian deposition with three distinct soil profiles associated with various human occupations.

Ahler, Stanley A., and Dennis L. Toom, eds. Archeology of the Medicine Crow Site Complex (39BF2), Buffalo County, South Dakota. Springfield Illinois: Illinois State Museum Society, 1989. 647 pp. Presents a descriptive inventory, analysis, and interpretation of the entire Smithsonian Institution River Basin Survey collection (1957-58) from this site, which consisted of six discrete subareas.

Ahler, Stanley A.

1971 Projectile Point Form and Function at Rodgers Shelter, Missouri.

Missouri Archaeological Society Research Series No.8. Columbia.



Ahler, Stanley A.

1987 Putu: A Fluted Point Site in Alaska. Simon Fraser University

Publication No. 17. Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University,

Burnaby.

AGENDA

March,1999

TUESDAY 2

Morning: Manufacturing Techniques John Clark, moderator

Room: Main Conference Room, Bureau Economic Geology

9:00 Michael Collins

Introduction of Keynote Speaker

9:05 George Odell

Keynote Address

9:30 Michael Collins

Meeting Overview

9:40 Gene Titmus

An Analysis of the Folsom Preform

10:00 Bob Patten

Fluting by Rocker Punch

10:20 Coffee Break

10:45 Phil Geib and Stanley Ahler

Considerations in Folsom Fluting and Evaluation of Hand Held Indirect Percussion

11:10 Phil Wilke

Experiments with Small, Simple, Highly Portable Holding Devices for Fluting Folsom Points:

11:35 Leland Bement

Folsom Post-Production Point Technology

12:00 Lunch

Tags: lithics, flintknapping, stanleya.ahler, ph.d, archaeology | Edit Tags
Sunday February 11, 2007 - 09:54am (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for February 11, 2007
Entry for February 11, 2007 magnify
I made this knife about 8 years ago. It was fun. I dropped it one day and it broke. The photo was taken by my friend Sherry Paulee. She since began to hate my filthy guts. The kinfe and the friendship broke!
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Sunday February 11, 2007 - 09:49am (PST) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for June 09, 2006

Obituary
Don E. Crabtree, 1912 - 1980
by Ruthann Knudson
(as published by the Society for American Archaeology)

Don E. Crabtree, "the dean of American flintknappers", died in Twin Falls, Idaho on November 16, 1980, of complications of heart disease. He had been in ill health for some time and, indeed, had major health problems for much of his life. Yet he was possessed of immense energy and curiosity that pushed him to world leadership in the study of stone-tool technologies. To a great extent self-educated, he spent most of his life in the agricultural communities of southern Idaho, yet was familiar with the world's leading scholars and institutions of archaeology and published crucial papers in lithic technology.

Crabtree was born in Heyburn, a small community on the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho on June 8, 1912. His parents were the Reverend Ellis and Mabel G. Crabtree, and they Imageprovided him with a strong ethical and educational heritage that was to serve him throughout his life. In 1911, the Crabtrees homesteaded 140 acres in the Salmon River Valley where they spent their summers while Don Crabtree was a child. In 1917, they moved to a 10-acre plot just outside of Twin Falls, where they established a garden and pickle business that is still successful. They also maintained a large tourist home. Don Crabtree's ties to his family and native Idaho were focal elements of his life, most of which he spent in the same Twin Falls community amidst parents and two sisters and their families. His father died in 1967; his mother still lives in Twin Falls.

Don Crabtree finished high school in Twin Falls in 1930 and for some time worked for the Idaho Power Company. He soon decided to strike out for California where he enrolled in Long Beach Junior College sometime in the mid-1930's, intending to major in geology and paleontology. His interest in those topics, and in prehistoric archaeology had developed during a childhood and youth spent exploring south-central Idaho with its remains of prehistoric villages, contemporary Indian communities, obsidian and vitrophyre quarries and associated debitage, and even the Hagerman Fossil Beds with their Miocene horses. He had tried his hand at knapping the local natural glasses to replicate the arrowheads that were scattered over the landscape, and was fairly successful at it, but his primary attention first focused on the paleontological record. Crabtree was an action person, a thinker-while-doing, not happy just studying, and after one term at Long Beach Junior College, he dropped out of formal academic training and went the rest of his way himself. Throughout his life, he was somewhat self-conscious about this lack of college education, disliking formal speeches and putting ideas into scholarly language for publication, although he was recognized internationally as one of the most thoughtful and provocative students of prehistoric technologies.
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In lieu of a college education, Crabtree began working in paleontological laboratories and by the late 1930's was preparator in the vertebrate paleontology laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Here he worked under the direction of Charles Camp and Ruben Stirton and did summer fieldwork in Nevada and California. At the same time, he became acquainted with Alfred L. Kroeber and E.W.Gifford of the Lowie Museum at Berkeley, and in the late 1930's worked as a technician in the anthropology program while he further developed his flintknapping skills. He also conducted knapping demonstrations for scholars and students at Berkeley and occasionally for Museum visitors. His subsequent lifelong concern with the behavioral implications of prehistoric artifacts, based on thorough knowledge of the technology and use of stone tools in general, undoubtedly dates to this association with Kroeber and the Berkeley anthropology program.

In 1939, Crabtree was stricken with cancer and returned home to his parents' care during what were considered to be his last days. However, massive cobalt treatments and his mother's and his indomitable patience through months of intensive care led him to recovery. He spent his recuperation period, when his mobility was limited and as he was trying to regain muscular strength, flintknapping - - making arrowheads, spearpoints, and eccentric lithic forms by the hour. What had been a virtuoso performance until that time became a confirmed craft and art, all the time being conducted amidst a personal search for information about lithic mecha nics, systems of efficient core reduction, and the significance of variations among the newly identified paleo-Indian points from the Plains and Southwest.

In January, 1938 the Ohio Historical Society established its Lithic Laboratory for the study of materials of the eastern United States, and in mid-1939 H.Holmes Ellis was hired to staff the facility while he completed his Master's thesis (Flint-working techniques of the American Indians: an experimental study, 1940) at Ohio State University. The laboratory was to function for only a few years, being discontinued on the eve of World War II, but it was a critical element in the history of modern stone-tool studies. In the spring of 1941, fully recovered and with a year of concentrated flintknapping behind him, Crabtree was invited to demonstrate knapping techniques at the American Association of Museums' annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. As a result of that demonstration he was employed for several months in the Lithic Laboratory as a technician working with Ellis and Henry C. Shetrone, replicating eastern lithic artifacts. Crabtree was also called upon as an adviser in lithic studies to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was associated with Edgar B. Howard and the Clovis type site and other Blackwater Draw materials. It was during this period that he had his first "hands on" acquaintance with the Folsom materials, one of his lifelong fascinations, when Frank H. H. Roberts of the Smithsonian Institution called Crabtree in as a consultant in the analysis of the Lindenmeier Folsom collection. Everything was going right in the fall of 1941; the cancer was in remission, Crabtree had employment doing that in which he was most interested (working with stone tools), and he was becoming recognized as one of the leading students of that subject by major archaeological institutions. Then the United States entered World War II, the Lithic Laboratory was discontinued, and Crabtree returned to California to join the war effort. The first major phase of his career in lithic studies came to a close.

From 1941 until the late 1950's Crabtree's involvement with flintknapping was only as an avocation. He spent the war years in Long Beach where he worked as a coordination engineer for Bethlehem Steel Company, which built the ships for the Pacific effort. There he met his beloved wife, Evelyn Josephine Meadows; they were married in Long Beach in 1943. Their relationship was a strong and close interdependency, she serving as his housekeeper, traveling companion, secretary and editor, and always as his closest confidant. They never had children of their own, rather "adopting" the young students who flocked around Crabtree to learn and consult; their home was always open. Evelyn's health problems were also significant; she had lost a lung to tuberculosis when she was a young woman, and spent her last years in a long fight against cancer. Their 33 years together were a true partnership, and one did not know Don Crabtree unless one also knew Evelyn.

Following World War II, the Crabtrees returned to Twin Falls. They purchased the big family home from Don's parents, and he soon was a successful real estate salesman in a booming postwar market. Evelyn was a manager of a large savings and loan institution, where she dealt in real estate and more general financial matters. She was an astute businesswoman, and Crabtree credited her with providing their financial security in their later years. They eventually sold the large house and bought a small place out in the country just east of Twin Falls, on the Kimberly mail route, and over the years they added rooms and a shop until finally they had a modest but complete lithic laboratory and guest facility.
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Crabtree was employed from 1952 until 1962 as a county supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) in Twin Falls, spending much of his time in aerial photo interpretation of soil conservation problems. He maintained his avocational interest in flintknapping, was a skilled lapidarist and fine metal worker, and even did beadwork. He continued to read voraciously, to keep up with archaeological publications, and to demonstrate flintknapping to local schools and youth groups. He also continued his investigations into the archaeology of southern Idaho, particularly its prehistory. He was locally quite well known for his knapping skills and knowledge, and that local fame led him to a reentry into the scholarly world of lithic studies in 1958.

In 1957, Earl H. Swanson, Jr. arrived at Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello to establish the first major archaeological program in that state. Pocatello is on the eastern edge of the Snake River Plain, some 120 miles east of Twin Falls. Swanson, who had recently completed a Ph.D. program at the University of Washington and a year's work in London, was interested in the interrelationship of environment and prehistory, in paleo-Indian studies, in the culture history of the intermountain west, and in developing a strong new archaeology program in that region. He soon heard from local people that there was a flintknapper of prodigious skill with a major regional archaeological collection living in Twin Falls, and in 1958 Swanson introduced himself to Crabtree. The deep friendship of Swanson and Crabtree, which was support for an equally strong mentor-protege partnership of the two men, was forged immediately and was to last until Swanson's untimely death in 1975. It must have been quite a moment when Swanson met the man about whom he had heard only as a local collector and knapper, and found that he had unearthed one of the world's leading practitioners and scholars of lithic technology. Swanson's international credentials and participation in the "early man" network of American archaeologists gave him access to research monies and forums that Crabtree would not then have entered on his own, and Swanson never hesitated to do whatever he could to provide Crabtree would not then have entered on his own, and Swanson never hesitated to do whatever he could to provide Crabtree with that access by extension.

In the spring of 1961 Alex D. Krieger visited Swanson at the Idaho State College Museum to see the paleo-Indian materials being found in the Birch Creek Valley and at Wilson Butte Cave, and the idea of a conference on regional lithic typology was conceived. There was enthusiastic support for the idea from other archaeologists in the West, and Richard D. Daugherty further suggested that such a conference should be initiated with a flintknapping demonstration and discussion of the technical aspects of stone-tool production. Thus, in March 1962 the First Conference of Western Archaeologists on Problems of Point Typology was held at the Idaho State College Museum and was opened with a full morning of Don Crabtree on lithic technology. Thus, Crabtree and his expertise in lithic technology and analysis were made known to a range of influential American archaeologists, and the stage was set for focusing on technological studies rather than just "types".

When Swanson first met Crabtree the latter was still working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Crabtree was also having occasional heart and vascular problems, which may have been the delayed result of the cancer treatments of 1939-1940, and in 1962 these became severe enough that he was forced to take an early medical retirement. He thus had time to concentrate on the lithic studies, which he did when he was feeling more able. In 1964 he was appointed Research Associate in Lithic Technology at the Pocatello Museum, a nonsalaried position that provided some support services and an institutional identification when applying for research monies. He retained that position until 1975.
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Friday June 9, 2006 - 05:09pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for June 09, 2006
Awards
For Obsidian Knives By
Errett Callahan
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1989 - Judges' Choice Award
BEST PRESENTATION
Chesapeake Knife Show, Baltimore, MD

1994 - WOODEN SWORD AWARD by Ken Warner,
Editor, KNIVES 94
(for contribution to field)
Image

1996 - BEST FANTASY KNIFE
Southeastern Custom Knife Show
Winston-Salem, NC

1997 - BEST HIGH ART KNIFE
Shenandoah Valley Knife Show
Harrisonburg, VA
Image
1998 - BEST HIGH ART KNIFE
Shenandoah Valley Knife Show
Harrisonburg, VA Image

1998 - BEST FANTASY KNIFE
Southeastern Custom Knife Show
Winston-Salem, NC

1999 - BEST HIGH ART KNIFE
Shenandoah Valley Knife Show
Harrisonburg, VA
Image
1999 - BEST FANTASY KNIFE
Southeastern Custom Knife Show
Winston-Salem, NC Image
2000 - BEST HIGH ART KNIFE
Shenandoah Valley Knife Show
Harrisonburg, VA Image
2000 - BEST FANTASY KNIFE
Southeastern Custom Knife Show
Winston-Salem , NC Parasarolophus
(Not Pictured)


2001 - BEST MINIATURE AWARD
North Carolina Custom Knife Show
Winston-Salem , NC
(Not Pictured)
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Friday June 9, 2006 - 05:07pm (PDT) Edit | Delete | Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Entry for June 08, 2006
Entry for June 08, 2006 magnify
Next month I was hoping we could delve deeply into Bob Patten's book "PEOPLES OF THE FLUTE", it is far from boarring like many books on knapping, I have read it and enjoyed it. It is written more from an anthropology,, or what Bob calls "Anthropolithic" perspective. I know all knappers will understand and enjoy this interesting book. If anyone is out there that actually is reading this list, I highly recomend this book. I am hoping to get some readers to have dialog on this next month. I bought mine at Barnes and Noble, they ordered it, it came in a little less than two weeks. The total costy was about 24 bucks, the cost of a new release dvd. If you want some very interesting perspectives on knapping and Paleo Archaeology, get involved in this reading session next month. Get the book soon and get preped. Each month we can do another knapping book.

flintknappingdigest@yahoogroups.com

Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0966870115
Publish Date: 3/1/2005
Publisher: Stone Dagger Publications
Dimensions (in Inches) 8.75H x 6L x 0.75T
Pages: 288

DESCRIPTION

"Innovative techniques are introduced to solve some of the oldest archaeological mysteries of the American continents. Controlled experimentation, supplemented with computer modeling, provides a basis for interpreting the tools, behavior, strategy, and intent guiding early technological decisions. The evidence reveals a chain of responses to environmental changes that explain the emergence and abandonment of fluting technology."