Don E. Crabtree

Don Crabtree at his Kimberly, Idaho studio in 1969.

Don Crabtree (1912-1980) was among the best known of modern "flintknappers". Most of his scholarly work was through the Idaho State University Museum, though he was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Idaho. Crabtree published many scholarly papers, several of which have become classics in American archaeology. He was also the subject of several short films in which he demonstrated his techniques.  His 1972 publication An Introduction to Flintworking continues to serve as a primary source of terminology for students of lithic technology.

Don Crabtree demonstrating percussion blademaking, University of Lethbridge, 1979.

Crabtree was primarily self-taught, learning many of his skills at an early age. He later met Earl Swanson, Director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History, who put him in contact with Francois Bordes (France). Together these two men revolutionized experimental studies of stone tools. Crabtree taught flinknapping fieldschools for Idaho State University from 1969 through 1974. He also visited numerous universities and museums providing public demonstrations. Many of his students now teach stone tool studies in colleges and universities.

Among Crabtree's more notable contributions to archaeology are his classic replication studies of Folsom Points and Mesoamerican prismatic blades. Shown below are examples of his eccentrics, which illustrate his impressive pressure-flaking skills.

Miscellaneous eccentrics made by Don Crabtree.

Bibliography

• 1939 Mastodon Bone with Artifacts in California. American Antiquity 5(2):148-149.
• 1964 Notes on Experiments in Flintknapping: 1. Heat-Treatment of Silica Materials (with B. Robert Butler), Tebiwa 7(1):1-6.
• 1966 A Stoneworker's Approach to Analyzing and Replicating the Lindenmeier Folsom. Tebiwa 9(1):3-39.
• 1967 Notes on Experiments in Flintknapping: 3. The Flintknapper's Raw Materials. Tebiwa 10(1):8-24.
• 1967 Notes on Experiments in Flintknapping: 4. Tools Used for Making Flaked Stone Artifacts. Tebiwa 10(1):60-71.
• 1968 Archaeological Evidence of Acculturation Along the Oregon Trail. Tebiwa 11(2):38-42.
• 1968 Experimental Manufacture of Wooden Implements with Tools of Flaked Stone. Science 159(3812):426-428.
• 1968 Mesoamerican Polyhedral Cores and Prismatic Blades. American Antiquity 33(4):446-478.
• 1968 Edge-Ground Cobbles and Blade-Making in the Northwest (with Earl H. Swanson, Jr.) Tebiwa 11(2):50-58.
• 1969 The Corbiac Blade Technique and Other Experiments, Tebiwa 12(2):1-21.
• 1969 A Technological Description of Artifacts in Assemblage I, Wilson Butte Cave, Idaho. Current Anthropology (10)4:366-367.
• 1970 Flaking Stone Tools with Wooden Implements. Science 169(3941):146-153.
• 1970 Man's Oldest Craft Re-created (with Ricard A. Gould). Curator 13(3)179-198.
• 1972 An Introduction to Flintworking. Occasional Papers of the Idaho State University Museum, No. 28.
• 1972 The Cone Fracture Principle and the Manufacture of Lithic Materials. Tebiwa 15(2):29-42.
• 1973 Experiments in Replicating Hohokam Points. Tebiwa 16(1):10-45.
• 1973 The Obtuse Angle as a Functional Edge. Tebiwa 16(1):46-53.
• 1974 Grinding and Smoothing of Stone Artifacts. Tebiwa 17(1):1-6.
• 1974 Unusual Milling Stone from Battle Mountain, Nevada. Tebiwa 17(1):89-91.
• 1975 Comments on Lithic Technology and Experimental Archaeology in Making and Using Stone Tools edited by Ear H. Swanson, Jr., pp 105-114. World Series in Anthropology. Mouton.
• 1978 Comment on "A History of Flintknapping Experimentation, 1838-1976", Current Anthropology (19)1:360.