FROG EFFIGY PIPE
LATE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
This
beautiful late Stone Age effigy pipe probably dates to the Late Mississippian period
sometime between A.D. 1250 & A.D. 1350. It was
found by W. McAdams in 1887 while digging in one of the
mounds on the bluffs overlooking East St. Louis, Illinois. He described
his find and wrote: "This
last old Mound-Builder had in the grave with him his alter pipe, or
smoking-maker, from a beautiful red stone, and representing a huge
bullfrog, which in its right forefoot or hand a curious sort of mace, or scepter-like
handle, surmounted at its upper end with a ball or globe". In this
same mound he also wrote about finding "another of these
Mound-Builder's crown-like head-dresses of copper, that had been
ornamented with pearls and pretty figures from pearl shell".
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR
LARGER IMAGE
"THE RATTLER FROG EFFIGY PIPE"
ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS
LATE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
A.D. 1250 TO A.D. 1350
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE OF
ILLINOIS
This picture shows the object the frog is
holding which appears to be a rattle with lines or streamers carved below
it.
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The
"Rattler Frog Pipe" is one of the most spectacular animal
effigy pipes ever found in southern Illinois. It was skillfully carved with
realistic features but what makes it unique is the object it's holding in
the right front foot.
ENLARGEMENT OF THE
"RATTLE"
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE OF
ILLINOIS
This picture shows what has been described as a rattle held in the
fore foot of this frog effigy pipe, known as the
"Rattler Frog Pipe".
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One comparison
that has been made with the object that is held in this frog's foot is with
the Rattler figure pipes
from Spiro Mounds. Those pipes all
involve human figures with rattles in their left hands or sometimes with a
fringed object in their right hand. These fringed objects sometimes have
streamers that might relate to the vertical parallel lines engraved just
below the object or rattle on this pipe.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR
LARGER IMAGE
"THE RATTLER FROG EFFIGY PIPE"
ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS
LATE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
A.D. 1250 TO A.D. 1350
OWNED BY THE PEOPLE OF
ILLINOIS
This picture shows the plain side that was carved with
natural features. Several cracks can be seen where it was broken and glued back together.
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Recent investigations by Dr. Thomas E. Emerson and Randall E.
Huges of Univ. of Illinois at Urbana and the Illinois State Geological
Survey are helping to identify the material these red stone pipes are made
of. Their research in geologic sourcing through x-ray diffraction and
spectroscopic analysis of Mississippian red stone pipes from southern
Illinois have shown that none of these pipes were made of bauxite or even
catlinite as have been previously reported. They have identified the
material this pipe and other examples were made of as flint clay or fire
clay from local sources in Missouri. It's a clay that has been
geologically compressed into a stone that can be carved into pipes. It's
also a material that is compatible with high heat.
This pipe measures 6 5/16 inches (16cm) long, 3 7/8 inches
(10cm) wide and 5 1/8 inches (13cm) high.
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