Sculptural Pipes and Sacred Materials in the Mississippian World
Americas | ISSUE 01by Anthony Joshua Meyer
Sculptural pipes in red stone like “Big Boy” mirror the complexities of Mississippian religions and cultures.
With polished, ruddy hues and two piercing, wide eyes, the sculptural pipe known to archaeologists as “Big Boy” commands attention. Excavated from a mortuary context at the site of Spiro in present-day Oklahoma, United States, this deeply meditative figure, his visual details, and his materiality have much to tell us. [...]
Photo: Mississippian artist, Chunkey player effigy pipe © Courtesy of the Saint Louis Science Center
