Analyzing Late Woodland Pipe Fragments from the Topper Site (38AL23): Exploring the Botanical, Social, and Ritual Intersections of Smoking

Summary

Three pipe fragments uncovered during a 2017 University of Tennessee excavation at the Topper Site (38AL23) in Allendale County, South Carolina have opened a window into the social and ceremonial practices of the site’s Late Woodland inhabitants. Morphometric, paleoethnobotanical, and residue analyses have enabled us to explore the societal role smoking played within this community. We compare the form, design, and contents of these fragments to similar artifacts from across the region and an explore the multifaceted role smoking played at the individual and civic levels. Paleoethnobotanical and chemical residue analyses have been conducted on the contents of a pipe bowl from the site, the results of which will inform our interpretations and enrich our understanding of smoking’s purpose within this Woodland community. Drawing on ethnohistorical accounts and comparative archaeological studies, we consider the known uses of various plant species in smoking rituals within the precontact Southeast. We aim to understand the role of smoking within this community specifically, and to situate this local iteration of the practice within the broader regional context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21914