Years ago, I lived in south Missouri near the town of Hermitage. We had a garden out behind an old shed on the side of a hill. The dirt in that area was sort of a reddish brown color with lots of rock mixed in. You wouldn't think it would raise very good crops by looking at it. But it did, some of my most productive gardens were in that soil.
One spring I was tilling up the dirt, when all of a sudden the tiller locked up and killed the motor. I saw a big rock bound up in the tines and dug it out. I tossed it at the shed and as it bounced off and hit the ground I noticed it had a small hole in it. Curious, I walked over and picked it up to examine it a little closer. I could see there was more dirt inside so I took a stick and removed the rest of the dirt. I realized I was holding an Indian pipe bowl made from sandstone. I had often found full and broken arrowheads in the garden, but this was a specail find.
The house place was on a ridge that was near where a small stream ran into the Pomme de Terre River. My guess is that in the past the Indians that lived in that area must of had a campsite along that ridge. X.
Goosebumps. What a find for you!!! I would love to walk on that ground.
ReplyDeleteMary
The pipes are sacred to the native americans. Most are found at a burial site. We rented the property which was a modular home built on an older homesite. My guess is the older homesite was built in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Perhaps they disturbed a burial site then. That or some traumatic event caused the pipe to be displaced. I find it hard to believe that it was carelessly misplaced. X.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can feel the history when you hold that pipe! It's amazing that the rototiller didn't destroy it!
ReplyDeleteThere is something about finding something of the past, especially when you know of its use and importance.... I have only a few relics that I have had the pleasure to find, a few arrow heads, some scraping tools and a bowl, yet all are precious to me
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing find! I wonder what offerings of sacred tobacco were made, for what purposes. What a cool piece of history, which also completes another leg of synchronicity in my ideas of researching Native cultures this week.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful discovery! A very special piece of history!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! Have you ever taken it over to a university by chance to see if any of the archaeologists might have any more info on it?
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't. Did look it up in an artifact book however. This style of pipe (tube/cylindricle)was probably made 800 to 1200 years ago. It is not as ornate as others but was a chore to make nonetheless. It was probably drilled out with a chert drill bit. X.
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