Native American, midwestern United States (Ohio and surrounding area), early Hopewell culture, ca. 100 BCE to 400 CE. One of my favorites! Made from beautiful red-grey soapstone, colored by iron oxide inclusions, this pipe is in the form of a large fish lying on its side with a small raccoon perched on its back. The raccoon's back forms the chamber, while the mouth of the fish is the mouth of the pipe. Like most Hopewell pipes, the smoker would be looking directly into the eyes of the animal as they used it, forming a connection between the human and animal world. Many of these pipes were ritually destroyed, so it is fantastic to find an intact example like this one. Size: 1.4" L x 3.35" W x 1.25" H (3.6 cm x 8.5 cm x 3.2 cm)

This type of pipe is a rare effigy form, which often featured animal figures. The earliest evidence we have for the use of tobacco in this area comes from ca. 100 to 200 CE; in addition to tobacco, and often prior to it, we know from ethnohistorical accounts that people smoked a variety of other plants, including dogwood, juniper, sumac, and bearberry. These pipes were not just made for the simple act of smoking; they seem to have had a strong religious component as well, and various archaeological sites from the period, including the Hopewell Mound sites, have the remains of hundreds of destroyed platform pipes, including effigy ones like this. Others were buried with their owners individually. Effigy platform pipes are believed to be totemic animals or spirits from Native cosmology.

Provenance: private southern California, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s to mid-1980s

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#140844

Intact. Light surface wear commensurate with age. Some smoothing to form from age and handling.