Among the rich archaeological findings in the extended Cahokia region, sculpted effigy pipes stand out for their relative rarity and convoluted cultural significance. The pipes, distinguished from other North American effigies in both material and technical precision, depict various animals and humanoid figures in kneeling positions, frequently accompanied by gourd rattles and other religious paraphernalia endemic to the area (Thomas E. Emerson, 1983). Notably, many of the earliest figure pipes were not constructed as pipes at all but as free standing sculptures later modified. The revision and repurposing of these sculptures most likely coincided with a changing Cahokian theology and growing population in need of a more demonstrable spirituality (John T. Pafford, 2016).

Frog With Gourd Rattle Effigy Pipe (MeisterDruke–280892)

While individual Cahokia-style effigy pipes are typically quite idiosyncratic, many of the recorded specimens meet a distinctive criterion: possessing both depiction of shamanic paraphernalia (typically a gourd rattle) and more figurative representation of spirituality; in a broader cultural sense, this prerequisite is one that binds praxis to its spiritual underpinning (Thomas E. Emerson, 2003). Some effigies take the form of transfigured individuals, rendering a fairly literal spiritual transformation into frogs or snakes or deer, while others are more subtle: shaman figures with pensive faces and pipes, potentially meant to depict an onlooker’s perspective on such internal transformation.    

Human Smoking Effigy Pipe (Wikipedia Commons, 2010)

However, the vast majority of effigy pipes from Cahokia do not fit this exclusive precondition. They portray warriors and Chunkey players and individuals with no tangible connection to one another apart from their culture of origin (Emerson, 2003). The most apparent similarity throughout the catalog Cahokia’s effigy pipes is that they all depict high–ranking citizens, and with regard to the rarity and singularity of each effigy pipe, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they were sculpted with a specific, well respected echelon of clientele in mind (Emerson, 1983). But archaeobotanical analyses and form dictate that the cultural significance of the pipes could not have been so deeply rooted in monetary value (Pafford, 2016). 

The Cahokia effigy pipes were constructed with flat bases; they were not fit to be passed around and held as other pipes were. It is likely that they would have been placed on a flat surface, either the ground or a low table, where the individual would then kneel over the pipe and inhale in yawning gulps through the wide opening, producing an intense light-headed effect (Emerson, 2003). This performative and indulgent mode of consumption in tandem with the insufficient archaeobotanical record of regular tobacco usage in Cahokia as well as the recurrent shamanic motifs in many of the pipes suggest a distinctly spiritual significance for Cahokia’s effigy pipes.

Further Reading:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40713282?searchText=Cahokia+effigy+pipe&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DCahokia%2Beffigy%2Bpipe&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A23fc62d9338f49997153e00403fea5ad#metadata_info_tab_contents

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000182328800005

References:

Emerson, Thomas E. “MATERIALIZING CAHOKIA SHAMANS.” Southeastern Archaeology 22, no. 2 (2003): 135–54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40713282.