Nature and Provenance of Red Pipestone from the Wittrock Site (130B4), Northwest Iowa

Abstract

Five pipestone specimens from the Wittrock Mill Creek culture site were evaluated by x-ray powder diffraction analysis. While their mineral compositions were very similar to one another, they are not among the varieties of “catlinite” pipestone types occurring at Pipestone National Monument, a commonly assumed source of all pipestone. Pipestone types like the Wittrock specimens were found in outcrop and cores from south central Minnesota. Because several pipestone samples from abandoned river-terrace gravel quarries and gravel bars immediately adjacent to the site produced the same kaolinite-rich quartzose variety of pipestone materials recovered archaeologically, the conclusion is that the Wittrock Village inhabitants obtained pipestone raw materials locally. These results are discussed with respect to resolution of archaeological problems not the least being when prehistoric groups abandoned the use of local source materials in favor of “catlinite” materials now exposed at Pipestone National Monument.