5b.44 Esch Mound Effigy Pipe

The effigy pipe is a unique variation of the elbow style made from Ohio pipestone. It may represent an alligator, a frog, or some mythological creature. The fragments of plain pottery are similar to types made in Michigan. A radiocarbon date shows that the Esch site was occupied around A.D. 590.

Other Middle Woodland groups lived in the region between Sandusky and Maumee bays while the Hopewell people were at Esch and in southern Ohio. Why these two groups did not interact to any great extent is a topic of much current research

Catalog Number: A 1176/000129
Image Number: AL00263