Squirrel effigy pipe photograph   Save
William D. Tremper Collection http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/ohiopix/index.cfm
Description: This pipe in effigy (a likeness or representation) of a squirrel is made of olive gray and red mottled stone. It was excavated from Tremper Mound, a Hopewell culture site located five miles north of Portsmouth in Scioto County. The squirrel is shown sitting erect with its front paws relaxed at chest level. Its toes on all four paws are indicated by incised lines. The tail is erect against the back with the tip curled. There is some restoration on the bowl at the effigy's "shoulders" as well as left foot and portions of the platform at either side of the effigy. The effigy pipe measures approximately 1.5" x 3.5" x 1.25" (3.81 x 8.89 x 3.18 cm). This pipe is part of a large collection of pipes found at Tremper Mound. The pipes were carved of Ohio pipestone, a silica-based material that can be easily carved when freshly quarried from the hills east of the Scioto River. The pipes represent a variety of animals significant to the Hopewell, including owls, wolves, deer and beaver. Skilled Hopewell craftsmen carved the pipes with flint knives and some are embellished with pearls or copper. In Ohio, the Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) built burial mounds and large earthen enclosures in geometric shapes (circles, squares, and octagons) to mark the places where the people gathered periodically to participate in many social and ceremonial events. Some of these sites were quite large--the Newark Earthworks complex extends over a 4-square-mile area. The Hopewell people also maintained a large trade network extending as far as the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, the Florida coast and Appalachians, and northern Lake Superior. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1357_1136500_074
Subjects: American Indians in Ohio; Plants and Animals; Arts and Entertainment; Geography and Natural Resources; Hopewell culture; Mounds (Burials); Pipes (Smoking); Squirrels
Places: Rush Township (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)