034 North American Otter Pipe

This clay pipe is in the shape of an otter with its paws resting on the bank of a river. It was used by placing tobacco in the bowl on top of the animal’s head, and breathing the smoke through a small hole at the end of the pipe stem.

The pipe is one of about 200 found in a network of 24 burial mounds in modern Ohio. Known as ‘Mound City’, these vast earthworks are spread over 13 acres. At the time this pipe was buried Native North Americans lived in scattered farming communities, but they came together to bury their dead. The burial objects help reveal the extent of trade across North America. Finds have included the teeth of grizzly bears from the Rocky Mountains, conch shells from the Gulf of Mexico, and copper from the Great Lakes.

Smoking was, and remains, an important part of ceremonial life for Native North Americans. The tobacco smoked when this pipe was made was called Nicotiana rustica, and it was mildly hallucinogenic. It may have been smoked as a way of concentrating thought and prayer. Tobacco first became popular in Central and South America, where it was wrapped in leaves and smoked. The colder climate in the North meant that suitable leaves were not available year-round—using stone pipes instead had a practical advantage. Pipes ultimately became deeply personal objects, specially crafted with a variety of designs. They are now a lasting legacy of a ritual which, prior to their use, was mostly invisible in the archaeological record.

When the pipe was found in the nineteenth century it raised many questions about who had buried it. It was first thought that it might have been made by someone from the Gulf of Mexico because the otter design was wrongly assumed to represent a manatee.