Rattler Frog Pipe

The frog pipe illustrated here was supposedly recovered in the late nineteenth century by William McAdams from a burial in a mound on a section of bluffs overlooking the American Bottom, near Collinsville, Illinois. Known as the "Rattler Frog Pipe," because of the festooned rattle in the right hand, this unique object is manufactured from a fire clay similar to that used in the manufacture of other figurines and pipes in the Cahokia area. This item is presently curated at the Illinois State Museum. Illustration by Kathleen Stahlman.