Pipe find tells Indians’ story

Posted on June 25, 2021
The discovery of two-thousand-year-old tobacco pipes in western Illinois and in Ohio tells an important story. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The discovery of two-thousand-year-old tobacco pipes in western Illinois and in Ohio tells an important story: a story of regional diversity among Indians, says Tom Emerson, retired director of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.

“This all takes place around the time of Christ, somewhere around 200 B.C. to about 300-400 A.D.,” Emerson said. “These pipes of this style show up spread all over the Midwest with a couple of clusters in Illinois and in Ohio, so one of the issues that we were trying to address was the connection between those two locations.”

Emerson says the size of the find in Ohio suggests a much more hierarchical society than here. The Illinois sites were Pike County and White County, and the pipes are intricately and elaborately constructed; one features an otter effigy, and another a bird pecking a person’s face.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]. 

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