Antler Pipe History

Pipes have been made and used for thousands of years. There have been many stone and ceramic pipes that have been found by archaeologists throughout North America dating back to 4000 and 3000 B.C.E. The earliest bone pipe found in North America was discovered in a cave in Wyoming, dating back to 9000 B.C.E.

Tobacco use in North America followed Indian trade routes long before Columbus had arrived, and smoking a pipe took on ritual and religious importance in many Indian tribes. The most famous Native American pipes are the long calumets or "peace pipes" of the Sioux and other Plains Indian tribes, which were made by attaching a wooden stem to a hand carved bowl made from pipestone or "catlinite." Other native pipe-making includes a small one-piece stone and ceramic pipes usually of the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes. Wood and antler pipes were used mainly by the Southwest Indians. There are a few written accounts of Europeans interacting with fur traders in the Detroit area of the US gaining possession of Potawatomi Indian antler pipes in the early 1800's and taking them back home.