Description: Human effigy pipe also called the Adena Man or the Adena Pipe, from the Adena culture, Early Woodland period, 500 BC-1 AD. This photograph shows the pipe being excavated from Burial 21, Adena Mound, Ross County, in 1901. The object, which measures 1.97 by 2.60 by 7.87 inches (5 by 6.6 by 20 cm), is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection, and is now recognized as the state artifact of Ohio. Tubular pipes such as this one were common in the Adena culture (800 B.C. - A.D. 1), although effigy pipes are unusual, rendering this particular pipe very unique. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00258
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); American Indians in Ohio; Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Adena Mound; Ohio state symbols; Effigy pipes
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Human effigy pipe from the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from Mound #8 in Mound City, Ross County, Ohio. Mound City is a burial mound and earthwork complex located in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. It is situated on the west bank of the Scioto River opposite the Hopeton Earthworks, a few miles north of Chillicothe. The site was constructed between approximately 100 BC and AD 400 by people of the Hopewell Culture and consists of 22 variously sized mounds surrounded a low, four-sided, earthen embankment that encloses about 13 acres. During World War I Mound City became part of an expansive army training facility called Camp Sherman. In an attempt to preserve as much of the site’s integrity as the army would allow, the mounds were flattened or truncated and camp buildings built over them and not intruded into them. Beginning in the 1920s, the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) funded restoration of the site and in 1923 the Mound City Group was elevated to the status of National Monument. Since 1992 Mound City has served as the focal point of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. Restoration lasted several years and was the beginning of the movement toward archaeology as a disciplined profession. One interesting aspect learned during the restoration process was that, for whatever reason, burials at Mound City were of a more egalitarian nature and not just of apparent high status as seen at other locations. The Mound City Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00270
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; Archaeology--United States--History; Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Effigy pipes;
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the alligator effigy pipe recovered at Esch Mound in 1930. The Esch Mounds were a pair of conical mounds located along the Huron River in Erie County, Ohio. Emerson Greenman of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) investigated these mounds in 1930 and unearthed a variety of objects including several platform pipes and a number of Flint Ridge Flint bladelets or flake knives. These are all diagnostic of the Hopewell culture (100 B.C. - A.D. 400) although a subsequent radiocarbon date of A.D. 590 points to a rather late timeframe for such a classical Hopewell site. Perhaps the most remarkable object recovered in Greenman’s excavations is the large stone smoking pipe seen here, made from Ohio pipestone and fashioned to represent the head of an alligator or perhaps some mythical deity in the Hopewell belief system. This extraordinary object is now on display at the Ohio History Center in Columbus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00263
Subjects: American Indian history; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeological excavations; Effigy pipes; Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Esch Mound
Places: Erie County (Ohio)
 

Description: Two-headed snake effigy pipe carved from obsidian, from the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from Offering 1, Mound 17, Hopewell Group, Ross County, ca. 1922-1925. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. The Hopewell Mound Group, the type site for the Hopewell Culture, is located along the North Fork of Paint Creek in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. When first surveyed in the mid-1800s the mound and earthwork complex, once referred to as the Clark Works, contained at least 38 mounds of various sizes within a 111-acre, somewhat “D”-shaped walled enclosure. An attached segmented square enclosed an additional 18 acres. The most notable mound in the group is referred to as Mound 25, a three-part conjoined mound that once measured 35 feet high by 500 feet long and 180 feet wide at the base. It was this mound more than any other that was the source of many of the iconic artifacts that defined the Hopewell Culture (100 BC-AD 400). The Hopewell Mound Group was extensively investigated in the early 1890s by Warren Moorehead to collect material for the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition. This material is now housed in the Chicago Field Museum. In the 1920s Henry Shetrone of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) also did extensive field work there, assembling an impressive collection of materials for the museum. Today the Hopewell Mound Group and several other related Ross County earthwork complexes are overseen by the National Park Service as the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. The Hopewell Mound Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00261
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Effigy pipes; Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400)
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Human head-shaped effigy pipe from the Mississippian period, 900 AD-1600 AD. This large pipe (95.5 mm high, 126 mm long, 94.6 mm wide) has a human head effigy resting on an oval platform. The pipe bowl is in the top of the head, while the stem would have been inserted into the open mouth of the effigy. Eyes are surrounded by a distinctive weeping eye motif. The nose projects from the face, but the ears are close to the head. Made of sandstone, the pipe is a very dark gray. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00274
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Effigy pipes; Mississippian Culture (A.D. 900–1500)