The stone age in North America, vol. 2 of 2Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
History
The stone age in North America, vol. 2 of 2
Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
Indians of North America -- Antiquities; Stone age -- North America
[Illustration:
FIG. 470. New York State Museum collection, Albany, New York. The New
York State Museum contains many fine specimens of early Iroquois
make. The upper figure to the right, with long stem, is gracefully
curved.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 471. (S. 1–1.) Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne,
Indiana. This is the form of bird effigy most frequently found. That
is, it is not common, but more of this type are found in the
Mound-Builder country than other bird-forms.
]
We have no such sculptures in the Mississippi Valley, but we have altar
mounds in which effigy and monitor pipes were buried. I have never found
a crude pipe in an altar mound and I do not think that either Squier and
Davis or Professor Mills ever found an example of crude art in an altar
mound. This refers to original interments, on the base-line—not to
intrusive burials. Everything indicates that the pipes in use in
pre-Columbian times were of two kinds, the small, individual pipes, and
the large council pipes, or those made use of at important functions
either religious or tribal, being characteristic. I have never observed
the mark of any steel or iron tool on a mound pipe in the Ohio Valley.
[Illustration:
FIG. 472. (S. 1–2.) This form of pipe is rare in Wisconsin. But a few
mouth-pipes with curved bases have been found in the St. Lawrence
region. It may have been obtained by trade in the South. Collection
of J. G. Pickett.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 473. (S. 1–2.) Collection of A. J. Powers, Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
Eagle pipe, Georgia. This remarkable pipe has been described several
times in various publications. It is a beautiful specimen.
]
Whether smoking was discovered through accident, or developed from the
use of the straight tube in the hands of the priests, is something we
may never be able to determine with accuracy.
While the effigy pipes required particular skill in their manufacture,
yet some of the tubular, rectangular, and disc pipes, although
unornamented, are wrought skillfully and brought to a high finish, and
the surfaces polished until almost as smooth as glass.
[Illustration:
FIG. 474. Collection of Leslie W. Hills, Fort Wayne, Indiana. A group
of beautiful mound pipes from Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. None
of these can be considered modern.
]
I have often thought that a careful catalogue of all pipes in our large
museums, with a detailed statement as to where each was found, would be
of great value, and enable us to prepare accurate tables as to these and
their significance and age. In this connection it is to be regretted
that greater care has not been at all times exercised in securing
complete data relative to aboriginal pipes and other artifacts deposited
in museums and private collections, for without this a specimen however
interesting is of little value in solving archæological problems.
[Illustration:
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