Went looking for pottery and found a pipe

[DownNDirty]

My area of South Carolina experienced a "thousand year flood" last October. The water level in my favorite river dropped way down yesterday so I launched the jon boat and headed out to check some sanbars for Native American pottery. I wasn't disappointed and was finding some nice shards when I stopped in my tracks. Right at my feet was a completely intact mid-1700s (based on stem hole diameter) kaolin pipe bowl-a first for me.

Not far from there I found the top of what appears to be an 18th century decanter and a glass bottle stopper.

I ended up finding decorative Woodland and Mississippian pottery shards on several sandbars, along with heartbreaker bottle shards, 18th century pottery and even "Mr. Baseball." A very fun and productive day with finds spanning 2500 years.

 

[DownNDirty]

...

 

[DirtStalker]

Looked like a beautiful day to hunt sandbars. At least you didn't have to worry about dear ticks. Neat finds

 

[relic nut]

Dude I would love to find a pipe! That thing is awesome. Very high on my wish list. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great day.

HH RN

 

[Scrappy]

That's a sweet pipe. The pottery shards look great. What do you do with all those pieces?

 

[DownNDirty]

That's a sweet pipe. The pottery shards look great. What do you do with all those pieces?

I keep them in separate boxes labeled with the location where I found them. An archaeologist at the University of South Carolina photographs and records them; it helps with their research of natives who lived along the river.

 

[austin]

Pottery is great, but that pipe is killer. Great finds...

 

[trapperart]

Nice stuff congrats

 

[dts52]

Outstanding finds!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Nice stuff DND. The pipe bowl is sweet, congrats.

 

[DownNDirty]

One of the bottle shards I found has "17" hand-applied (raised numbers) on one side. Could it be half of a date? I doubt I'll ever know but if anyone has info on this I would appreciate it. Possibly a centennial bottle from 1876 or an 18th century bottle with a date?

 

[against the wind]

Looks like you had some beautiful weather in a sweet environment. Congrats on the completely intact pipe.
I feel you pain, the broken glass bottles are tear jerkers.