Hi everyone,
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Image Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/
pipestone-national-monument-501118.htm |
I have been thinking more about what I would like to research, and I have slowly developed an interest in catlinite. After some quick searches and baseline research, I found that catlinite was often used as an ornamental construction material for personal effects and smoking pipes. Catlinite is a semi-glossy red metamorphosed clay-like stone, or a pipestone. While there are other pipestone deposits, catlinite comes from the Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, Minnesota. The pipestone from this quarry can be accurately identified by observing the elements that make it up, those being pyrophyllite, muscovite, and traces of diaspore. Also, it is the only pipestone that is quartz free, meaning it is easier to track its movements around the country and accurately pinpoint its origin (Emerson and Hughes 2001). Native Americans have been visiting the area for thousands of years in order to quarry the stone and are still able to today after registering for a permit and only by not using any electric tools, they must mine using the same methods they did hundreds of years ag (it is illegal for others to mine). This provides further evidence that the pipestone is extremely precious Native Americans as a material.
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A pendant fragment and piece of a pipe stem
recovered from Fort St. Joseph. |
Currently, some of the questions I am considering are: what types of catlinite objects have been recovered from Fort St. Joseph? How did they arrive at the fort? Through trade? And who brought them? Were the objects manufactured prior to their arrival or were some raw materials brought to the site? Since the material was precious to Native Americans how did it come to be seemingly in possession of the occupants and visitors of the fort? There are a lot of research questions that could be formed around this topic, and I feel that as I continue my questions will change and evolve. Hopefully, they will begin to form more specific questions that could lead to answers in the future. For my research, I am going to begin observing some of the catlinite we have recovered from the fort and compare it to catlinite found in other locations. This will give me a good baseline for further study.
Brendon
References:
Emerson, T. E., & Hughes, R. E. (2001). De-Mything the cahokia catlinite trade. Plains Anthropologist, 46(176), 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1080/2052546.2001.11932066
Erickson, C. S. (1966). CATLINITE. Central States Archaeological Journal, 13(4), 133–139. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43137724
Penman, J. T., & Gundersen, J. N. (1999). Pipestone artifacts from Upper Mississippi Valley Sites. Plains Anthropologist, 44(167), 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/2052546.1999.11931933
Wilson, D. (2021). Three Catlinite Pipes from Kansas. Central States Archaeological Journal, 68, 16–18. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45456477
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