The Windom Pipe

A Chaîne Opératoire Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID9218134
AuthorsDonald J Blakeslee (0000-0002-5174-3053, Wichita State University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume57
Issue224
Pages299-323
Publication date2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePlains Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-0447 • E-ISSN: 2052-546X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/pan.2012.023
OpenAlexW2029829378
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited22

This paper defines the Windom pipe, an L-shaped smoking pipe with a tall bowl set at a slightly acute angle to a short stem. This form of pipe is found in sites of the Great Bend aspect and related phases that are the products of ancestral Wichita populations of the fifteenth through late seventeenth centuries. The method of manufacture is traced here in detail, and two new tool types used in pipe manufacture are described for the first time. At some point after the pipes had been made and used, some were dissected and portions of the bowl used to make pendants that probably marked the status of the former pipe owner. The Windom pipe was apparently used in rituals of alliance within and between Great Bend communities but not for purposes of creating alliances with outsiders. Eventually, this form of pipe and its associated ritual was superceded by the calumet pipe and ritual derived from the Skiri Pawnee

Ancient history · Archaeology · Composite material · Fifteenth · Pipe · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Materials Science