Broken bowl of a locally made clay smoking pipe, 2 views (left: bowl interior; right: bowl exterior). Pipes like this were made across West Africa after Europeans learned the practice of smoking tobacco from First Peoples of the Americas and introduced it to Africa in early centuries of the trans-Atlantic trade. This pipe bowl has a flared pedestal base decorated with red paint. The oval bowl is decorated with vertical rows of triangular impressions, above which are two grooved lines and an area with red paint. The bowl' s interior is blackened from use toward its base. The bowl' s rim and its stem are missing. The potting clay used to make the pipe is tempered with fine white grit. Photo scale in cm. Site Kuulo Kataa. 28 June, 2000.
