Sneak peek at a spectacular piece from the Charles Garrad Collection

From the Charles Garrad collection, which is currently being organized and examined by OAS summer student Katie Anderson. Other pieces from Charles’ collection will soon be up on the OAS website, so stay tuned! 

This beautiful example of a human effigy pipe comes from the Connor-Rolling site, a contact era Tionontate (Petun) village from the‪ Collingwood‬ area. These types of pipes are called “pinch-face” pipes, and some scholars believe they represent shamans, or shamanistic power. The pipes are very standardized in their form and were made by Iroquoian speaking peoples across the Great Lakes region in the early 17th century.

The distinctive shape of the mouth has been interpreted by some as representing the practice of sucking or blowing that were a part of healing ceremonies; ceremonial sucking tubes are often found on sites from this era. The increase in shamanic pipes coincides with, and was perhaps caused by, the influx of disease and societal changes brought on by European contact.

(Thanks to Caitlin for the blurb and Katie for all your hard work this summer!)