Best Find Of My Life - Effigy Pipe!! New Pictures!!

I went out this morning after I got off work and hit one of my Ft Ancient sites. I got there really early and it wasn't even light yet so I tried hunting with a flashlight until it got daylight. I found the Bone Pendant and the small Bone Bead with the flashlight and the rest after it became light enough to see. I wish I would have had my camera with me, but since it was a spur of the moment hunt and I left from work I didn't have it. The Pipe would have made a killer in situ picture. When I first saw it I thought it was a large Deer Antler Arrowpoint and never even thought about it being a Pipe. When I flipped it over and saw the hole for the stem I almost fainted. My heart started pounding and I started sweating and I let out a really loud scream. Definitely the best piece I have ever found in my 44 years of hunting for artifacts.

The first picture is everything I found in the hour and a half I was there and the rest are the Pipe. It has a mouth engraved into the tip at the bottom but no other markings. I was hoping it would have eye engraved in it as well, but trust me I'm not complaining. This thing is in pristine condition. It is made of sandstone and has no damage whatsoever.

Sorry these pictures aren't real clear. I took them in a hurry and will try to get better ones later. My battery died on the camera.

Wonderful pipe! I said on the first pipe you found,That you deserved it as long as you have been hunting.Now you can quit and save some museum pieces for the rest of us. 

Dorkfish!!

              Super find!! That is a sweetheart of a pipe. When you find something like that it is not worth hunting the rest of that day. You walk around looking at the piece you just found instead of looking at the ground. It takes all of your concentration away. It is a good problem to have though. Congrats on a BANNER find!!


                                         Twig.

Excellent job!

I would still be dead. Great,great find...d2

      DORK !!!!!     Banner !!
   
                                                             That's  huge ,. Joel

beautiful pipe, congrats

swwweeeettt.that is killr.congrats on the find.thx for sharing the pics.

A real thriller starting in the dark of the night! Congratulations, The pipe has an interesting angle to the bowl,  about a 45 degree angle which lays nicely in the hand. Banner find!

How TOTALLY AWESOME!!  That is a BANNER find!  I think I probably would have screamed too!   Thanks for showing it to us!
Kind regards, sandcreek4

Thats awesome! Congrats on a great find. You must have a great area to be able to find stuff in the dark with a flashlight. Most times I can't even find anything in broad daylight. 

Ummm, Wow, that's about all I can say. I hunt the Ky. side of the big river, and hit a lot of places that are most likely Ft. Ancient as well, but never found anything approaching that. Def. a banner find, especially the fact that it has no damage. Go buy a lottery ticket, sounds like you're having a really lucky day. Congrats on a stellar find .........

BTW, great going on the bone pieces as well, but I'm afraid the pipe pretty much stole their thunder ........

NICE!!!

Very Cool Find.  Congrats on that one.          

Hippy

Wow...That is a best find. amazing it made it all these years without getting broke.
Randy

Awesome find! Closest I've ever came to finding a pipe was spotting one about 15 ft down a beach just before my buddy picked it up. lol Guess I should have walked a little faster.

Excellent find Steve, congrats.

Molly.

Thanks guys and gals. I appreciate all the comments and the nominations for the Banner. I am still so excited about this find that I can't even sleep. I have to work another 12 hour shift tonight and I didn't get into bed until almost 11:00 this morning and have to be to work at 5:30 pm. A buddy of mine who looked at pictures I sent him said he thinks it's a fish effigy or at least some kind of amphibian or aquatic animal.

  Dorkfish , Do you think maybe you could do a lit' write-up about the Ft. Ancient Culture ?? When this pipe hit's the banner , many reading about it may like to read about it's  "cultural-context" and see a few other Ft. Ancient  artifacts ?
  
   Sooo,.....Effigy-pipe ,.......I  see  a   aardvark  there ,... and he's  smiling !!       Blindpig

I agree BANNER, congrats on your great find....

Blindpig, I'll try to do one later. I have to get ready for work and I can't access this site from work anymore. They blocked it for some reason.


Here's a few more pictures that I took outside in the sunlight.

wow,great find and well deserved... jamey

What a find!!  Thanks for sharing it with us.

"Definitely the best piece I have ever found in my 44 years of hunting for artifacts."

I'll nominate you. Definately a rare find.

Wow and Wow. What a surface find ! That site has got some mojo going on. Very rare find indeed. That is something that was not often lost. It will look great in your collection.
Congratulations
TnMountains

Really cool.  Great find

Wow, dorkfish that is really something else!

YeY.................... You got you a banner...... Its a killer little pipe . Congrats Steve John

Really cool find. Never seen one before
I dont know much about indian artifacts so i dont know where to put it in time but it sure is a cool artifact.
Conggratulations

 Dorkfish , Do you think maybe you could do a lit' write-up about the Ft. Ancient Culture ?? When this pipe hit's the banner , many reading about it may like to read about it's  "cultural-context" and see a few other Ft. Ancient  artifacts ?
  
   Sooo,.....Effigy-pipe ,.......I  see  a   aardvark  there ,... and he's  smiling !!       Blindpig

That's a good idea blindpig.
I have to admit I have no idea what "Ft. Ancient" means or what a "Effigy pipe" is. But I would like to know more.
I can surely appreciate these types of finds though so CONGRATS!!

what an awesome find.

Dorkfish,

            A BIG congrats to you on a super find and making the banner!!


                                                 Twig.

That is sooooo cool!  It's great to see these artifacts on the banner!  I don't think I recall ever seeing TWO native artifacts on the same banner shot!  Nice find!

Congrats on making the banner. This one belongs there. 
Randy

AWESOME FIND!!!!!!!!  You deserve BANNER for that one. Congrats..............Hogge

Now THATS a great piece of American History!!! Congrads on agreat find.
                                                                                                Ben

Congratz on an awesome artifact find and a well deserved spot on the banner ... great job ~ Jimmy

Love that Ft. Ancient stuff.......WTG on the banner

DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!
DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!DUDE!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BIG BIG BIG CONGRADULATIONS!  i think it's a fish effigy! trout? now see if you have any trout bones? WOW! you are the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How old is it?

[The Fort Ancient culture (beginning circa 950 A.D. and ending around 1650 A.d.) existed along the Ohio river and its tributaries and continued up to the early historical period. Fort Ancient was originally thought to be a later extension of the Mississippian cultures to the southwest but are now generally seen as being contemporaneous. Both the Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures are believed to have developed independently from common Late Woodland complexes. Some of the best documented sites of the Fort Ancient culture are the Blaine, Madisonville, Morrison, Graham, Voss, McCune, Gabriel, Erp, Incinerator, Sloane, Turpin Farm, Haffner-Kuntz, Hardin Village, Feurt Mounds and Village, and Riker sites.Fort Ancient is distinguished primarily by its ceramic ware styles, but also by their small triangular arrow points as well as distinctive shouldered pentagonal flint knives. Other artifacts include shell hoes, "weeping eye" gorgets, and other ornamentation, bowl stone pipes and elbow stone pipes, and stone discoidals. Many bone tools are also evident such as deer and elk scapula hoes and awls, punches and fish hooks. During the 9th and 10th centuries the Fort Ancient culture had become increasingly dependent upon agriculture as a subsistence base, though floral and faunal evidence hunting and gathering continued to play a large role in subsistence.Fort Ancient settlements were often quite populous and nucleated but there appears to be a lack of political centralization. Elite structures have not been found, which likely means there was no differential access to economic resources. Fort Ancient society remained flexible for seasonal environmental resource exploitation. The Fort Ancient culture drew to a close in historical times as historically known groups such as the Delaware, Miami and Shawnee are recognized in the area. The Fort Ancient sites are not necessarily abandoned at this time but influx of both these new groups, as well as Europeans, with the attendant stress such as disease all combined to fundametally alter the societal structure.]

Thanks again for all the comments about my Pipe.

Here's a little info on the Ft Ancient Culture.

The Fort Ancient culture (beginning circa 950 A.D. and ending around 1650 A.d.) existed along the Ohio river and its tributaries and continued up to the early historical period. Fort Ancient was originally thought to be a later extension of the Mississippian cultures to the southwest but are now generally seen as being contemporaneous. Both the Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures are believed to have developed independently from common Late Woodland complexes. Some of the best documented sites of the Fort Ancient culture are the Blaine, Madisonville, Morrison, Graham, Voss, McCune, Gabriel, Erp, Incinerator, Sloane, Turpin Farm, Haffner-Kuntz, Hardin Village, Feurt Mounds and Village, and Riker sites.

Fort Ancient is distinguished primarily by its ceramic ware styles, but also by their small triangular arrow points as well as distinctive shouldered pentagonal flint knives. Other artifacts include shell hoes, "weeping eye" gorgets, and other ornamentation, bowl stone pipes and elbow stone pipes, and stone discoidals. Many bone tools are also evident such as deer and elk scapula hoes and awls, punches and fish hooks. During the 9th and 10th centuries the Fort Ancient culture had become increasingly dependent upon agriculture as a subsistence base, though floral and faunal evidence hunting and gathering continued to play a large role in subsistence.

Fort Ancient settlements were often quite populous and nucleated but there appears to be a lack of political centralization. Elite structures have not been found, which likely means there was no differential access to economic resources. Fort Ancient society remained flexible for seasonal environmental resource exploitation. The Fort Ancient culture drew to a close in historical times as historically known groups such as the Delaware, Miami and Shawnee are recognized in the area. The Fort Ancient sites are not necessarily abandoned at this time but influx of both these new groups, as well as Europeans, with the attendant stress such as disease all combined to fundametally alter the societal structure.

Hopes this helps out. 

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw04/index.shtml

Congrats Dorky!!
Simply Banner buddy!~

I wonder if you smoked out of it if you would get visions of the ancient world? cool thought maybe!!! oh well,,,, great find, what is it an effigy of ?  thanks for the show,,,,,



arthur

Congrats on the banner DORK!!!!!!....lmao.... I love saying that..Well deserved

Congrats on a Banner find.  As Eddie Cochran would have said, that's fine lookin, man, that's somethin else!

Excellent, you deserve it Steve.

Molly.

That's a really cool pipe!  Thanks for the show, I've been enjoying seeing your Fort Ancient collection.

Thanks for the Fort Ancient description too.  Have you ever found one of those "weeping eye" gorgets.  A friend on mine found one in North Dakota.  It's really small, about the size of a silver dollar and made of shell--one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

That's a really cool pipe!  Thanks for the show, I've been enjoying seeing your Fort Ancient collection.

Thanks for the Fort Ancient description too.  Have you ever found one of those "weeping eye" gorgets.  A friend on mine found one in North Dakota.  It's really small, about the size of a silver dollar and made of shell--one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

No, I haven't found one yet. It's on my list of things I want though and since I've been so lucky lately the list is actually getting smaller.

The things I haven't found and still want to are a Clovis, a Bannerstone, a Gorget, a Weeping Eye Gorget, and a Dovetail. I have crossed of Axe, Fish Hook, Pipe, and Fracture Base Dove in the past year.

Dorkfish, That pipe is a super awesome find! Thanks for sharing with us.

Here's some other pieces from the same site.

It's really nice to look at the banner and see two indian artifacts at once. Get out there and find another banner item. 

Very Very nice.  You can find 10,000 arrowheads before you find something that nice.

NEVER THE MUNDANE!! Super find of a lifetime!

 Great find Dorkfish and kudos on the Banner!!!

awesome find dorkfish you have a lot of nice artifacts out of that site.

Awsome pipe! looks like it has a cat or fox face near the top in the pic that's posted. Try wetting it with a spray bottle to see if something shows up. Great find.

A big CONGRATS to you on the find of a lifetime! The condition it's in for sandstone boggles my mind 

On pic jpg 007 beads i think it was. The item in the middle that is groved and broke. Is that a polisher for beads or awls? That is a rare item in itself if that is what it is.
 I am so happy we have a moderator that understands ancient artifacts and understands what a banner find is.
The only picture you need to post now is you with that pipe packed with local flavor and re-lit after hundereds of years. HAA just kidding. I keep dropping in to see your finds. Thanks Steve.

TnMountains

Very nice pipe, i bet you look at it many times a day as your walking by the room its kept in, i would That thing TN is describing looks like a shaft polisher/straightner, i would probally light it up once more, just long enough to not leave any modern residue in the bowl itself  jk on that too, actually prob not, would be a great feeling

On pic jpg 007 beads i think it was. The item in the middle that is grooved and broke. Is that a polisher for beads or awls? That is a rare item in itself if that is what it is.
 I am so happy we have a moderator that understands ancient artifacts and understands what a banner find is.
The only picture you need to post now is you with that pipe packed with local flavor and re-lit after hundreds of years. HAA just kidding. I keep dropping in to see your finds. Thanks Steve.

TnMountains

Yeah, that piece is a Sandstone Polishing Stone. It has the two grooves you see on that side pictured and it has another groove on the other side.

 20 years ago I just have packed that bowl with some skunk and fired it up. lol

Thats a great pipe. I found a cool pipe when I was a young collector . Here are a few pictures of it. I call it Big Bird.

Lol ! I just went back and read your reply. We did not have skunk twenty years ago,haaaa. Did we? I forget.....
 Did you ever figure out the effigy on the pipe?
TnMountains

Lol ! I just went back and read your reply. We did not have skunk twenty years ago,haaaa. Did we? I forget.....
 Did you ever figure out the effigy on the pipe?
TnMountains

Speak for yourself. That Meigs County Green was some real killer. lol

As close as I can tell, and the guys I have showed it too, we all think it's a Fish Effigy. I'm taking it to the ASO show in Columbus, Ohio this coming Sunday and I'm sure I'll get some more opinions there.

 Keep us updated on it.
Later
Richard

i dont know if i saw this post but that killer pipe,i wish i could make it to the show,give the address just in case,im kidda spur of the moment.  jamey

congrats on the blue ribbon today 

 Mickey says you won the blue ribbon at the show today? Give us a Banner update,ok???

Thanks mickey and congrats to you on your award for the Birdstone.

My Pipe got 1st Place for best Miscellaneous field find. I was against mickeys Birdstone and a nice Tube Banner so I felt very fortunate to come away with the ribbon. I showed the Pipe around to a few people and most agreed it looked like a Fish Effigy, so I guess that's what I'll continue to call it. I didn't get to see my Archy buddy so I didn't get to give him the contents I got out of the bowl when I cleaned it. I guess I'll have to try and catch him at a later date.