Prehistoric North America, Native American, Midwestern United States, Contact Period, ca. 1600 CE. A rare Native American artifact, a medicine tube, made from black clay fired to a hard, almost stone-like surface. The tube tapers outward from a small, pierced mouthpiece to an obtuse angle that tilts upward and flares out into a wide mouth with a human face on its inside side. The face has simple features, with wide, inset eyes, a line for a mouth, and projecting nose and chin. Comes with custom stand. Size: 6" L x 1.6" W x 2.25" H (15.2 cm x 4.1 cm x 5.7 cm); height on stand: 4.6" (11.7 cm)

A medicine tube used by a shaman - also called a blowing tube, sucking tube, tube pipe, or cupping horn - was used by applying suction to wounds or infected areas, often with the inclusion of plant or animal substances. These were used from ca. 2800 years ago - 800 BCE - until the 1700s, and early European observers found the Native methodology perfectly rational for removing infections, foreign objects, and bad spirits.

This item has been TL tested and determined to be authentic. A report will accompany it.

Provenance: private Parker collection, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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#123212

Wear to stone from handling and age. Carved details still clear.