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This excerpt from "Three Catlinite Pipes
from Kansas" published
in the 2021 Central States Archaeological Societies 2021
January Journal
Read this and mores in the Central
States Archaeological 2021
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March
2022
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Figure 1. Pipe No. 1 showing it from the top. It
measures 13/8” (34mm) H, 25/16” (58mm) L, 1/2” (12mm) T. As can be
seen, only one-half of the pipe is there |
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| Figure 2. Side view Pipe No. 1. Note the Caddoan-like geometric designs.4 There is no identification as to site via marking or lettering on pipe. It is made from catlinite. |
I recently acquired the small pipe shown in Figure 1. It would be interesting
to know if the rest of the pipe has been found, and if so, is it being displayed
or just laying in an artifact junk box? Perhaps it is out in a broken pile,
placed in a museum back room, or just disregarded after the finder passed
away?
It is one of three pipes I acquired from the late Lewis Wayne “Bud” Eulert
1 collection of Paradise, Kansas. I found out there was engraving on it when
I received it. It appears to have characteristics of both the Poole Type
2 and Windom Type 3 pipe styles.
All three of these pipes are stone, with the broken specimen and the smallest
elbow slant bowl Windom pipe type 5 being made from catlinite.
The third and largest of the pipes I acquired is an elbow slant bowl made
of Kansas pipestone. This pipestone may have been quarried from the upper
layer of poorer quality pipestone. The chemical composition when compared
with the better-known Minnesota pipestone is different, based on sampling
in shown in Continuity and Change III by Alison Hadley. According to this
report, the source of Kansas Pipestone is near Jasper, Minnesota, just south
of Pipestone National Monument and on the border of Pipestone and Rock counties.
I am guessing elbow slant bowl Windom
pipes originated from other site(s) or at least a later period, since I
believe they are later in the Middle Ceramic and into the Great Bend period,
which is confirmed inthe Windom Report by Donald Blakeslee.
The orientation of the elbow Slant bowl Windom pipes is interesting, for
example, which section is the bowl and which is the stem? I am not sure that
question can be easily answered. Based on what Donald Blakeslee discussed
in his work, the long / larger section is the bowl and the short elbow is
the stem. I feel that even if one were able to look at and study a large
sampling of these pipes, definitely determining that question might be hard
to arrive at. Looking at these pipes and photos of others, the orientation
may have been more of a personal preference. 8 Since features related to
construction, use and damage that one would expect with the stem and bowl
appears to vary within the pipes. I feel that I am not alone regarding this
question, since most of the collectors and archaeologists that were emailed
about this issue did not respond. Later period pipes have definite construction
features that allow one to determine which is the bowl vs. stem. Using the
inside diameter opening on the ends of the pipe is not a good way to determine
the pipe orientation, since they will be almost identical within 1mm of each
other. However, the wall thicknesses of the openings along with damage to
the pipe from the wooden stem insert, might be of assistance in deciding
the stem section on individual pipes.
One might think the simple answer to the question is the blackening of the
pipe from smoking; however, it is interesting that on a fair number of the
pipes this evidence is not noticeable. Even if present, it may not be as
clear cut as with later period pipes. All three of these pipes appear to
have been used.
The engraved Poole pipe in Figure 1 appears to have been used before it
was broken due to the darkening of the pipestone. There are two slight scuff
marks on it, but there is no major impact mark that would have caused the
pipe to break. Due to the smoothing on parts of the breaking edge I do not
believe it was broken by an implement.
Another possibility is is it could have been broken when the wooden stem became loose and....
Read other great columns in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2021
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2020
