Human Effigy Pipe

This pipe was found in Fairfield County, Ohio. The face has a “Weeping Eye“ motif, representing a falcon or another bird of prey.

Modern academics have named the region's stylistic similarities among Mississippian artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, or S.E.C.C. From 1200 to 1650 CE, it corresponded with their adoption of complex social organization at the chiefdom level and maize agriculture. Scholars from the late 1800s to mid-1900s suspected there was a connection between S.E.C.C. and contemporary Mesoamerican cultures because of certain similarities between the two locations (e.g., similar aesthetics or motifs in artwork, maize-based agriculture, and the development of sophisticated cities with large pyramidal structures). One theory held that some Meso-Americans were brought to North America as slaves by conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1510–1573) might have introduced artistic and religious qualities. Subsequent studies, however, show that there are no direct connections between the two cultures and that each of them formed independently.

Early research characterized the S.E.C.C. as "a kind of religious revival in the lower Mississippi Valley" and surrounding areas because of the features' seeming quick proliferation. According to ideas as of 2004, the complex originated from pre-existing beliefs dispersed throughout the southeast and Midwest by the Hopewell Interaction Sphere between 100 BCE and 500 CE. Additional studies reveal the complex functioned as a network of exchanges. A pair of shell gorgets with such a similar depiction that it seems likely the same artist created them could serve as an example of this type of network. The fact that one was discovered in southeast Missouri and the other hundreds of miles apart in Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma, suggests that they were exchanged or given as presents throughout a large area. Across the Southeast, numerous other pairs of strikingly identical gorgets connect locations.

The Mississippian culture's social structure revolved around warfare, which was symbolized by a variety of motifs and symbols found in expensive raw materials like Florida conches, Texas and Kansas stone tools, lead from northern Illinois and Iowa, Florida pottery, and copper from the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Lakes. These items can be found in elite cemeteries with weapons like maces and war axes. These warrior emblems coexist with objects with celestial imagery of mythical animals, people, and other creatures. This allegory connected nobility, cosmology, and battle into a logical totality. Depending on the area, several artifact categories served as indicators of the main office.

If you want to see this artifact, visit our museum in Bentonville!

Works Cited

“Southeastern Ceremonial Complex - Wikipedia.” Southeastern Ceremonial Complex - Wikipedia, 8 Sept. 2013, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex#Artifacts.

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Credit to Olivia Lee