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The Moundville Cat Pipe
carved Glendon limestone
c. 1000-1500 CE
Mississippian culture
Moundville, Alabama, USA

#handmade #carved #stone #GlendonLimestone #Moundville #cat #pipe #Mississippian #culture #MoundvilleAlabama #USA #precolumbian #ancientart #art #sculpture #mythology #zoomorphic #effigy
This zoomorphic artifact is the Moundville Cat Pipe, a famous Mississippian-period effigy pipe carved from limestone.The Mississippian culture was an advanced Native American civilization that flourished from approximately 800 CE to the 1600s across the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Recovered from the Moundville Archaeological Site in Alabama, USA. Mississippian culture (dating roughly between 1000–1500 CE). It portrays a stylized feline (often interpreted as a panther or underwater cat) with bared teeth and coiled, swirling lines around its face. A heavy ceremonial pipe bowl, featuring a characteristic cavity in its back used for smoking sacred tobacco rituals. The original artifact is currently housed in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.
October 6, 2026 at 3:05 PM