European clay pipe and pipestem fragments from Jan van de Velde’s "Still Life" (detail), 1658
Courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of Bruce B. Dayton

Pipes at Flowerdew Hundred

Like most artifacts, pipes--typically mixed with other artifacts--have been found scattered across the site. Archaeologists seek to make sense of this mixture by recognizing patterns, associating types of artifacts with specific areas of a site, and by investigating characteristics of the artifact and its context.

Distinctive types of pipes have been found at Flowerdew Hundred. Virginia Indians made and used the oldest pipes. Locally made terracotta pipes, which were used during the last three quarters of the 17th century, could have been produced by Indians, European settlers, or enslaved Africans. From the 17th through the beginning of the 19th century, white clay pipes imported from Europe were in use. Other pipe forms from later time periods have also been excavated at Flowerdew Hundred. Although the different types have been found mixed together in the same contexts, archaeologists have used particular aspects of the pipes to try to determine who was producing them and when.