Sculptural Pipes and Sacred Materials in the Mississippian World

Americas | ISSUE 01
by Anthony Joshua Meyer

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

Read the full article in Convergence #1

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