My Buddy's Find of a Lifetime

[fyrffytr1]

My hunting partner and I went out for a few minutes Sunday morning but it was too hot so we gave up and went our separate ways. Me to my house and Jim went to his sister-in-laws house on the creek to go swimming and relax.
Jim's sister-in-law found a couple indian artifacts in the knee deep water so naturally Jim had to start looking.
He moved a few branches off the creek bottom and this thing was just laying there. It is, without a doubt the most amazing indian artifact I have ever seen come from here!! And, I even got to hold it.
We believe the bird is a vulture and it is eating the brain out of a human head. And this is the back side! No telling what the front would have been!!
The last picture is my favorite, that's me holding it!! :grin:[attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3][attachimg=4][attachimg=5][attachimg=6][attachimg=7]

[milco]

That piece is like something for a museum!

[jkress]

Wow... this is an incredible find. :shocked04:
Your buddy must be quite thrilled. :yes:

What is it made of? Is there a hole in the bottom of the bowl that connects to the base?
Perhaps it was a pipe at one time and the wood stem has long since passed away. :confused:

A very unique find for sure. I am certain your friend could find some answers from local Native American experts. :yes: Let us know
if any other info surfaces on the piece. :->

[pale rider]

That is a unique and interesting find. I'm no expert, but it looks like some sort of smoking pipe to me.

[CODY]

Please keep us informed on this. Very, very interesting!!!!!

[del]

:omg: wow that is a great item very early looking too. i bet it had the same motif or efigy on the other side as it looks like it broke off , i agree it looks like a ceremonial pipe of somekind. a fantastic piece :smitten: :smitten:

[tanacat]

A very unique find for sure. I am certain your friend could find some answers from local Native American experts. :yes: Let us know if any other info surfaces on the piece. :->


I'm very curious also :yes: Amazing find :clapping: My friend 'eye-balled' a huge silver and turquoise ring when we were shallow water hunting last week. Please let us know what exactly it is! I thought of a pipe when I saw it also...

[freemindstuck]

That is an amazing find. wow! Museum quality. I had a friend who found an intact flint thunderbird, when he showed it to an expert he wanted to put it in a museum. My friend waffled and a year later his house was robbed and the artifact was one of the things stolen. Anyways I guess my point is, we don't live forever and that is something I'd think about putting in my will to protect it for posterity's sake.

[fyrffytr1]

Sorry I haven't replied sooner but there has been a lot of interest in this item and I wanted to get the most accurate description before posting a reply.
I should have been more descriptive in my original post because I left out some information. The object is a pipe, and a very special one at that. It dates to the Mississippian period and has been identified as being part of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. It most likely dates to the 1350-1450 AD time period but could be older.
Here is a link to some more reading if Y'all are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex

[tanacat]

Thank you for the details :) I enjoyed reading this info.