Traditional Native American Pipe Bowls |
| The shape of the bowls of traditional American Indian pipes have changed throughout history and have been classified in six basic shapes. From the oldest to the most recent they are straight, platform, elbow, crested, keel and T-pipe. The oldest example of Native American pipes is the straight, or tube, pipe which was used without a separate pipe stem and dates back about 4,000 years. Pipes using a separate pipe stem and pipe bowl date back about 1,500 years. The most recent shape, the T-pipe, dates back to the early 1800's. Of course, there are many examples of variations within these basic styles. There are elbow pipes with short forward projections, disc pipes that hardly resemble any of the basic shapes and combinations of the basic shapes. Also, animal and human effigies were sometimes carved on the pipe bowl.
The kind of stone used for pipe bowls was limited by the primitive tools that were used for shaping and drilling the bowl. Many different varieties of stone were used but it had to be both soft enough to shape and heat resistant. Some of the stone that was popular for pipes is steatite, sandstone, limestone, Ohio pipestone and Minnesota pipestone (or catlinite).. All of these stones were traded along ancient trade routes and used for pipe making over much of this continent. Sometimes, completed pipe bowls were traded from tribe to tribe. For example, Minnesota pipestone bowls have been found in Mississippian Period mounds in Alabama and Oklahoma.
For more complete information regarding traditional American Indian pipe design, decoration and use the reader is directed to the following books. OFFERING SMOKE - Jordan Papers, University of Idaho Press THE SACRED PIPE - Joseph Epes Brown, University of Oklahoma Press |
© 2006 All rights reserved no part of this web document may be reproduced in any form without express written permission.