Hard red clay (catlinite) used by North American Indians for tobacco pipes.
Example sentencesExamples
The most recent and public difference of opinion over sacredness occurred just this summer, and it concerned a substance called pipestone.
One red tubular pipe was recognized as Kansas pipestone, which, while normally consisting dominantly of quartz and pyrophyllite, can have traces of both kaolinite and, commonly, muscovite.
Most descriptions of these artifacts attribute the red material to Ohio pipestone or ‘fire-clay.’
Various analyses of numerous Havana Hopewell platform pipes from Illinois revealed most to be made of Elkhorn Creek pipestone.
A similar situation exists with the Mississippian figurines of flint clay that are often misidentified as bauxite or pipestone.
Definition of pipestone in US English:
pipestone
nounˈpīpstōn
Hard red clay (catlinite) used by North American Indians for tobacco pipes.
Example sentencesExamples
Various analyses of numerous Havana Hopewell platform pipes from Illinois revealed most to be made of Elkhorn Creek pipestone.
The most recent and public difference of opinion over sacredness occurred just this summer, and it concerned a substance called pipestone.
A similar situation exists with the Mississippian figurines of flint clay that are often misidentified as bauxite or pipestone.
Most descriptions of these artifacts attribute the red material to Ohio pipestone or ‘fire-clay.’
One red tubular pipe was recognized as Kansas pipestone, which, while normally consisting dominantly of quartz and pyrophyllite, can have traces of both kaolinite and, commonly, muscovite.