In honor of International Women’s Day, we present an effigy pipe depicting a woman from ancient Ohio. She is shown in the act of either making a pottery vessel or perhaps cooking something in that vessel. The artist has cleverly used the pot to serve as the bowl of the pipe. The pipe was made during the Late Prehistoric period, somewhere between about A.D. 1000 and 1600. Who is she? Does she represent an ordinary woman engaged in an everyday domestic task? Is she a character from what was then a well-known story? Is she a supernatural being? What do you think?

Three views of a female effigy pipe (A4721/001). Approximately 3.5 inches tall.