Probably the best known type of pipestone is that called "catlinite", named for explorer/painter George Catlin, and only found in the Pipestone National Monument. Pipestone was apparently the preferred choice for historic-period Caddoan Native American groups in the Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley and Central and Great Plains states to make "calumet" pipes, long stemmed pipes which were (sometimes) used to smoke tobacco, as an integral part of welcoming ceremonies. Tribes associated with the calumet by ethnohistorians include Osage, Chawi Pawnee, Chitimacha, Ottawas, Wichita, Arikara, Cheyenne and Quapaw.
Calumet pipe stems which survive in archaeological or museum collections today consist of a plain bowl with a high polish, typically (but not always) carved from red pipestone. It had a right angle elbow pipe with a projecting prow or forearm in line with the stem but in front of the bowl. Rarely, the bowl is carved as an effigy of anthropomorphic, animal effigies, imaginary forms or objects such as a bison skull or human foot.
Archaeologically, pipestone was initially identified strictly with catlinite, which is interbedded with Sioux quartzite in Pipestone County, Minnesota and Minnehaha County, South Dakota. Geological investigation revealed that only Pipestone National Monument has the catlinite used in calumet pipes.
Sources
Blakeslee DJ. 1981. The origin and spread of the calumet ceremony. American Antiquity 46(4):759-768.
Gunderson JN. 1993. Catlinite and the spread of the Calumet ceremony. American Antiquity 58(3):560-562.
Sigstad JS. 1970. A field test for catlinite. American Antiquity 35:377-382.
Wisseman SU, Hughes RE, Emerson TE, and Farnsworth KB. 2012. Refining the identification of native American pipestone quarries in the midcontinental United States. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(7):2496-2505.
