Tim Rast is a flintknapper: removing flakes of material from pieces of natural chert or obsidian, industrial glass, even bottle bottoms, he creates museum-quality reproductions of ancient tools and other artifacts as well as original jewellery and one-of-a-kind art pieces.

Rast founded Elfshot in 1997 to supply museums, historic sites, and the public with his craft. Elfshot is a term from European folklore; it was a word once used for arrowheads, which were believed to have been made by elves or faeries.

Rast earned a B.Sc. in Archaeology at the University of Calgary in 1996 and an M.A. in Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1999. He's worked on archaeological projects in Alberta, Newfoundland & Labrador, and the Northwest Territories. Hoping to get in closer touch with the day-to-day lives of our earliest ancestors, he began to experiment with making replicas of the stone tools found at archaeological sites.

The flakes produced by a flintknapper are among the sharpest cutting edges found anywhere, Rast says. “Obsidian scalpels were once used in delicate surgeries, because they're so sharp and the cuts they make heal with very little scarring. I cut my hands nearly every time I knap, but I have no knapping scars—the cuts heal quickly and cleanly.”

In addition to his craft production, in 2003 Rast began to tour the province giving flintknapping demonstrations and workshops at festivals, museums, and interpretation centres. “It's been two centuries since anyone in this province tried to make a living flintknapping,” he says. “The first people here, 8,000 years ago, were flintknappers, and the craft didn't die out until the Beothuks disappeared.”

Elfshot —winner of awards for community education and historical interpretation—is breathing new life into an ancient craft.

Image shown: Stone knife and fibre optic glass pendant and earrings