Clay Elbow Pipe.
L: 4"
Mississippi Co., AR
Native Americans have a long tradition of smoking tobacco and other natural substances, and the Mississippians were no exception. During Mississippian times, pipes were made for smoking in either private or tribal settings. Smaller pipes were likely for private use, and the large, elaborate pipes were made for tribal and ceremonial purposes. Surviving pipes are made of two materials: clay and stone. Some Mississippian pipes are purely utilitarian in look and function. Other Mississippian pipes are not only functional but great works of Mississippian art.

The most common Mississippian pipe is the clay elbow pipe. These pipes are widely distributed throughout the Mississippian world, but they are most frequently encountered in Missouri and Arkansas. They are made of grayware pottery material, and most have little or no ornamentation. If there is ornamentation, it tends to be sculptural detailing of the pipe itself such as engraving, bowl edging, or other simple designs. In the rarest cases, there is some form of effigy design incorporated into the basic elbow pipe. Surviving clay elbow pipes often have remnants of smoked tobacco in the bowl. It is unclear whether a stem was ever used for the common clay elbow pipe. The Mississippians had a strong tradition of pottery making, so it would have been easy to form and fashion the basic Mississippian pottery pipe. The more southeastern Mississippians produced a great variety of clay pipes. The five pipes illustrated below are wonderful examples of these high quality clay pipes. Often, these southeastern clay pipes were created in the form of effigies and important objects in Mississippian society. For instances, the upper middle clay pipe is a representation of the monolithic axe.

An Array of Fine
Southeastern Clay Pipes.
Southeast US

Another style of clay pipe is an early Caddo style known as the Coles Creek pipe. These early Caddo pipes are always long, thin and very delicate. They can be as long as 10 inches. Having been in the ground for nearly a thousand years, the
Various Coles Creek and Caddo Pipes.
State of Aarkansas
stems are usually broken in more than one place. The pipe bowl is usually very small, and it would have been used as a personal pipe. Often the pipe bowl shows signs of actual smoking use. Unlike the gray colored elbow pipes, these early Caddo pipes are usually tan in color. This style of pipe is mostly found in southwestern Arkansas. Later Caddo clay pipes have shorter stems and larger pipe bowls. Still another style of Caddo clay pipe is a small and sometimes elaborate pipe bowl that required a separate stem.

The most desirable and often artistic pipes are made of stone. The Mississippians used many different types of stone. These varieties include Catlinite, Steatite, limestone, Bauxite and other pipestone materials. The stone materials chosen had specific requirements. They had to be sufficiently soft for carving when the pipe was first made, but it had to be durable enough to withstand use and the natural elements. Mississippian pipes were created without the benefit of metal drill bits or other Old World trade goods, so the difficulty of drilling the pipe stem hole and tobacco chamber was an important and practical concern. Although recorded in earlier historic times, George Catlin recorded his observations on how Native Americans made their stone pipes:

The Indians shape out the bowls of these pipes from the solid stone, which is not quite as hard as marble, with nothing but a knife. The stone is of a cherry red, admits of a beautiful polish, and the Indian makes the hole in the bowl of the pipe, by drilling into it a hard stick, shaped to the desired size, with a quantity of sharp sand and water kept constantly in the hole, subjecting him therefore to a great labour and the necessity of much patience.

George Catlin, 1832-39

Coffee Bean Pipe.
L: 4.5" Made from black steatite. The Coffee Bean pipe is so named for the rounded projections on the pipe bowl that resemble the coffee bean. It is a style more commonly found in Southeastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia and associated with the Dallas Culture, a sub-Mississippian Culture. Having been found in 1908 in Pike County, Ohio, it was found in an area not well-known for Dallas Culture artifacts. Now in the collection of Gordon Hart of Bluffton, Indiana.		 Tennessee Council Pipe.
D: 4.5" Made from brown steatite. This interesting pipe was found in 1879 by Bill Bennett in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Having six separate appendages for the insertion of wooden or reed stems, it is certainly a community or tribal pipe. This area of Tennessee has yielded many fine Mississippian artifacts. Now in the collection of Gordon Hart of Bluffton, Indiana.
Some Mississippians made the popular elbow pipe from stone rather than clay. In particular, the Dallas Phase Mississippians in northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee used green steatite to make what is known today as the bean pipe. Like Catlinite, Steatite in its raw form is a stone easily worked and carved. Once the pipe is carved and drilled, it hardens with use. As it is used, Steatite's color changes from green to a blackish color. The Mississippian Dallas people frequently made and used these bean pipes. It is curious why the name "bean pipe" is used to describe these stone elbow pipes as there is no evidence that the Mississippians were coffee users or that they even knew of the coffee bean. The name is intended to describe circular convex patterns carved along the pipe bowl. Actually, the "beans" appear to be sets of eyes that can be identified depending on the angle of the pipe when it is viewed. These bean pipes tend to be small personal pipe bowl. Although the longest bean pipes exceed four inches, the vast majority range in length from an 1 1/2 inches to 3 inches. They certainly could have been used with a stem.

Catlinite Disc Pipe.
L: 3"
Jersey Co., IL
Southern Death Cult Pipe.
L: 2"
State of Missouri
Another popular Mississippian stone pipe was the disc pipe named for the round disc carved and extended above the body of the pipe housing the stem hole and prow. Disc pipes were made during late Mississippian times. Although they were occasionally made from a fine-grained limestone, Catlinite is the more popular and preferred stone material. Catlinite disc pipes have been found along the Mississippi River in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. Because Catlinite was probably mined in southwest Minnesota, it is likely that Catlinite was a popular but exotic trade material for the Mississippians living along the Mississippi River so far from the stone's point of origin. Disc pipes range in length from just over two inches to nearly nine inches. All disc pipes are rare and very desirable.

The most popular and desirable of the Mississippian pipes are the fine stone effigy pipes. Similar to their pottery counterparts, the Mississippians created remarkable effigies. Some are rather small and were likely used for strictly personal use. Others are much larger and were used for tribal or ceremonial purposes. The Mississippians modeled their effigy pipes after both human and animal figures. Many reflect the Mississippian's belief in the creation of man. Others were modeled from popular images such as the frog and various birds. Effigy pipes have been found throughout the Mississippian lands. Each represents some of the best in Mississippian artistry.

The Missouri Heron Pipe.
H: 5.25" Made from red to brown banded slate. This well-known bird pipe was discovered in 1858 by a farmer named Amos Weiling while removing a tree stump on a farm in Mew Madrid County, Missouri. The heron is a common sight along the waterways in central and southern Missouri. Having been owned by many famous collectors from earlier days, it is now in the collection of Gordon Hart of Bluffton, Indiana.
The Dr. Bunch Frog Pipe.
L: 8.25". Made from fine green sandstone. This famous pipe was found in 1878 in a low mound on a river bluff near what is nows Bluffton, Yell County, Arkansas.

Spiro Mounds Equal Arm Pipe.
L: 16.75". Made from local tan shale. The Equal Arm pipe is so named since the pipe’s prow and stem are of equal distance from the pipe bowl. Found in 1934 or 1935 by G. E. Pilquist at the Great Temple Mound at Spiro Mounds in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, it is an outstanding example of Spiro craftsmanship. Having been originally purchased by Dr. Robert Bell who monitored the early excavation at Spiro Mounds.

The Crenshaw Mound Platform Eagle Pipe.
L: 6". Made from fine Limonite. This famous pipe was found in 1961 at the Crenshaw Mounds Site in Miller County, Arkansas. The Crenshaw Mounds was a multi-component Coles Creek and Caddo Site having seven distinctive occupations. All but the lowest level are Caddoan.
The Byall Man Pipe.
H: 3.7" Made from banded gray slate. This well-known pipe was discovered in 1865 by Oscar Byall, a boy of nine years, while walking through a plowed field on his father's farm near Jackson Township in Wells County, Indiana. It is said to be the finest human effigy ceremonial pipe found in Northern Indiana.

The Cahokia Mother and Child Pipe.
L: 5.4". Made from Bauxite. This famous pipe was found in Madison County, Illinois at a Cahokia satellite site near Collinsville, Illinois.
The Dillingham Bird Pipe.
H: 4.75" Made from tan and brown Ohio pipestone. This pipe was discovered in May, 1930 by Mr. Holland Evans near the town of Hatfield, Spencer County, Indiana near the Little Pigeon Creek. Curiously, it is named for the first purchaser of the pipe, a city mail carrier named Mr. Dillingham, rather than the actual finder.

 

The Raptor and Man Pipe.
L: 6.25". Made from fine grained limestone. This famous Southern Death Cult pipe was found in the State of Mississippi. Note the weeping eye motif along the falcon's eyes. This same weeping eye motif is a common feature on other Southern Death Cult artifacts. (Courtesy of the Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma).