Pipe, Wooden Stem
date: label: Accession Date
content: 9 Jun 1887
name: label: Collector
content: Lucien M. Turner
label: Donor Name
content: Smithsonian Institution
notes: label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=642 , retrieved 8-19-2012: Pipe bowl and stem. Strong leaf tobacco imported by the Hudson's Bay Company was a significant trade item on the Yukon River by the 1840s. Athabascan residents used it as snuff, mixed it with burned tree fungus for chewing, and smoked it in pipes. This pipe from the Koyukon village of Nulato has a [stone bowl carved in the form of a] kaolin clay bowl, [the type of clay pipe] factory-made in England for the Indian trade in America.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Description from Anthropology Conservation Lab condition report on the pipe, 05/2009: Two piece pipe with stone bowl and wooden stem. The stem of the pipe is fabricated from a single piece of round, light colored wood with a hole drilled through the longitudinal center. The distal end of the stem is oval in cross section. The proximal end of the stem is tapered and can be snugly inserted into the adjoining end of the stone bowl. Notches and channels carved from the longitudinal surface create a symmetrical banded design along the length of the stem. Fine tool marks along the length of the stem indicate that it was carved, rather than turned on a lathe. The pipe bowl is carved from a single piece of green/gray stone, possibly steatite. The bowl is a rounded oval in cross section, with a small rectangular knob carved in relief at the exterior base. A short round stem is carved at right angles to the bowl. Tool marks, identified by subtle planar facets are visible along the length of the exterior surface of the stem. Overall the stone surface has a smooth, matte finish. Tobacco residue is visible on the interior of the bowl. Double twined sinew has been wrapped around the proximal end of the pipe stem.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Nulato, Yukon River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Koyukon (Denaakk'e) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 019248
label: USNM Number
content: E129255-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Pipe
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 17 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 3 cm
label: Thickness - Object
content: 5 cm