Bird Head Effigy Pipes Were Important Prehistoric Talismans

Birds were omnipresent occupants of the prehistoric sky world. Early chroniclers of Historic period Indian communities recorded that native populations believed birds were air-born emissaries of powerful spirits in the sky world. Various pleadings could be ritually transmitted to upper world forces through these winged messengers. It was felt upper world spiritual forces controlled the environment of earthbound inhabitants and virtually controlled their destiny. Some of the sky world forces were thought to be ancestor spirits who were entitled to influence the current residents' lives. As a result, the birds that had access to this upper world and to a certain extent their modeled representations, received homage. This was usually accomplished during special ceremonies such as ritual pipe smoking events. The proliferation of bird symbolism in various spiritual activities became part of an overriding expression of religious beliefs that exploded during the Late Prehistoric Period in mostly aggregated Fort Ancient and Mississippian communities. Symbolic bird references were expressed in a number of ways including on prominent rock carvings such as Ohio's Saxon petroglyph (Figure 1).