APPENDIX 18.1
DEFINITION OF PANPIPES AND DESCRIPTION OF THEIR MORPHOLOGY
PANPIPE TYPES
Multi-tube, Corrugated Panpipes
In the early stages of the search for examples of panpipes, a 'panpipe' was considered to be a
metal object that is corrugated on one side and once covered multiple, organic inner tubes that
fitted into the corrugations (Turff 1997:29). By this definition, panpipes do not include flute-like
objects with finger-holes or objects with only one tube.
A few references were found to single tubes of cane or reed, either wholly or partially
covered in copper and/or silver (Magrath 1945; Moore 1896; Thomas 1894; Wilkinson 1840).
These artifacts resemble panpipes in that they have a metal jacket and an organic inner tube. An
example from North Benton, Ohio, was "a hollow tube of wood about six inches long", which
had a "silver sleeve" around the narrow end and may have been capable of making "ear-splitting
sounds ... if fitted with a reed at the smaller end" (Magrath 1945:45). Another single tube was
recovered at Murphy’s Island, Florida. It was described as a tube of “some long-fibred substance
like cane [covered in] thin sheet copper” (Moore 1896:509). All such artifacts were eliminated
from study because each had only a single tube. In addition, rippled copper plates were not
defined as panpipes.
Long and Short Corrugated Panpipes
A dichotomy in tube length was initially suggested by Turff's study of three LeVesconte, Ontario
panpipes and the single Cameron's Point, Ontario specimen. Although all four panpipes had
corrugations on their obverse side, the panpipe from Cameron's Point is much shorter: 2.3 cm.
versus 12.5 cm., 12.6 cm., and 14.0 cm. for the LeVesconte example. Such differences in length
are observed generally throughout the sample of corrugated panpipes across the Eastern
Woodlands, as the histogram of panpipe lengths for complete specimens shows in Appendix
18.2. Long corrugated panpipes are defined as those between 7.5 cm. and 20.7 cm. in length,
while short corrugated ones range from 2.3 cm. to 7.5 cm.
Band Panpipes
This kind of panpipe was first identified by Young (1976:3). Band panpipes are distinct from
multi-tube panpipes in shape and size. Whereas the latter have three or four corrugations on their
obverse side, band panpipes lack corrugations entirely. for tubes. Because the organic interiors of
band panpipes are not preserved, they have not been consistently identified and surveys and
tallies of panpipes thus do not agree with each other (e.g., Cree 1992; Griffin et al. 1970; Young
1976).
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Once the above three formal types of panpipes had been defined on the basis of form and
size, each specimen that was found was assigned on the basis of its form and size to a type: long
corrugated (LC), short corrugated (SC), or band (B) (Appendix 18.3, column 4). For lack of
data, a number of panpipes cannot be assigned a type. Finally, each panpipe was defined more
finely by its number of tubes, its exact dimensions, the metal used for its jacket, and the number
of holes in its reverse side (Appendix 18.3).
THE INVENTORY
Ninety-nine of the 105 panpipes (94%) could be securely or tentatively assigned to a type on the
basis of jacket length and form (Appendix 18.3). The percentages of variants reported here are
based on the sample of 99 assigned specimens. Sixty-seven examples (68%) are LC or possible
LC panpipes, with either three or four tubes. Most LC panpipes are three-tube copper specimens
(n=42; 42%). In addition, there are eight (8.1%) LC copper-with-silver panpipes with three
tubes. Only two (2.0%) LC three-tube panpipes are totally silver and one (1.0%) is totally iron.
LC four-tube specimens occur much less frequently than do LC three-tube panpipes (n=8; 8%).
Only one of these (1.0%) is copper with silver and only one (1%) is copper with iron.
The 20 SC and probable SC panpipes comprise 20% of the panpipes identified to type.
They include 14 (14%) copper examples, one (1.0%) copper-with-silver specimen, and 5 (5.1%)
wholly silver panpipes. The most frequent type is SC three-tube copper (n=12, 12.1%), followed
by three-tube silver (n=5; 5.1%). There is one (1.0%) SC three-tube copper-with-silver panpipe
and one (1.0%) SC four-tube copper specimen.
There are 12 examples of band panpipes constituting 12.1% of all panpipes typed. All are
copper.
The number of organic tubes that comprised a multi-tube corrugated panpipe generally
appears to be inferrable from the number of ridges on its obverse side. However an unusual
copper panpipe from Stoner Mound, Illinois, has five inner tubes made of a "straight-grained,
fibrous material that is probably cane" (Calvert and Stephens 1992:6), but only four corrugations
on the metal jacket. Despite the deteriorated condition of this panpipe, it can be seen that two of
the inner organic tubes lie within a single metal tube (Calvert and Stephens 1992:6). This is the
only known example of this kind of tube arrangement, the function of which is unknown. It is
possible that other specimens also had multiple, organic tubes per corrugation housing. Strictly
speaking, the number of tubes estimated from the number of jacket corrugations must be
considered a minimum.
Size
Complete LC specimens range in length along the direction of the tubes from 7.6 cm. to 20.7
cm, and in width in the direction perpendicular to that of the tubes from 4.3 cm. to 7.5 cm. In
contrast, complete SC panpipes have lengths that range from 2.3 cm. to 7.5 cm and widths that
range from only 1.9 cm. to 5.2 cm (Turff 1997:55). Complete band panpipes range from 2.3 cm.
to 3.8 cm in width in the direction of the presumed tubes, and 4.8 cm. to 9.0 cm in length in the
direction perpendicular to the presumed the tubes (Turff 1997:61). Because metric data are
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sometimes incomplete or lacking in textual descriptions, some dimensions in Appendix 18.3
were estimated from photographs and drawings of the panpipes.
Measurements of the inner tubes of panpipes are seldom available for lack of their good
preservation. However, the panpipe from the Stoner Mound, Illinois, has tubes that are "5 to 6
mm wide and 2 to 2.5 mm thick” (Calvert and Stephens 1992:6). A copper-with-silver specimen
from Albany, Illinois, has tubes that are 1.4 cm thick while the silver sheet is 0.5 mm thick
(Herold 1971:XX). Although the three tubes of a copper panpipe from Schwert Mound,
Wisconsin, have been crushed, it is evident that the diameter of the middle tube is less than that
of the two outer tubes (Joan Freeman, personal communication). Leader (1988:98) notes that the
thickness of the copper sheets used to make the jackets of Ohio Hopewell panpipes (specific
specimens not named) ranges between 0.1 cm and 0.2 cm. The copper-and-silver jacket from
Albany, Illiniois, is 0.5 cm. thick (Herold 1971:XX).
Weight
Panpipe weight is generally not recorded. One exception is the three-tube silver specimen from
Marietta, Ohio, which weighed 31 gm (Putnam 1883:94). Seven panpipes from the Hopewell
site, Ohio, ranged in weight from 9.20 gm for an incomplete specimen to a maximum of 83.80
gm for a specimen of unknown completenesss (Leader 1988:248).
Metal Jackets
The metal jackets of Hopewellian panpipes within the sample of 105 panpipes are most
commonly copper (n=82; 78%). Occasionally, jackets of silver (n=11; 10%) or copper-withsilver (n=10; 95%) are found, but only one example of copper-with-iron and one of iron alone
have been recovered. Hopewell panpipes without metal jackets may have once existed.
However, panpipes made entirely of organic materials such as cane, reed, and perhaps bone are
unknown among prehistoric and historic societies of eastern North America, and would have
decayed in most archaeological deposits there.
Copper and Silver Composites
The construction of the more rare, composite, copper-with-silver panpipes deserves comment.
Generally, the copper is overlaid with silver, which is applied by hammering and smoothing.
Spence and Fryer (1990:1) analyzed a variety of Middle Woodland silver artifacts, including a
number of panpipes. Thin sheets of silver ranging from 0.13 mm. to 0.2 mm. in thickness were
concluded to have been molded over wooden, clay, or copper forms and worked to shape.
Striations observed on the silver sheet of a silver-over-copper panpipe but not on sheet silver that
had not been molded, both from the Converse site, Michigan, suggest the use of this method
(Spence, Chapter 20).
The copper-with-silver panpipe from Helena Crossing, Arkansas, is different from others
in that its silver was not applied over the copper. Rather, the silver is an inherent part of the
copper matrix from which the panpipe was formed. At one end of its corrugated copper surface
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is a silver segment 3.2 cm long (Ford 1963:16). Silver is the most common natural impurity
found in native copper by weight (Patterson 1971:313). Copper and silver crystals known as
"half-breed crystals" can consist of a foot or more of copper which abruptly becomes silver (Ford
1963:16).
Holes and Their Number
Appendix 18.3, column 8, lists specimens that have small holes in their reverse side. Holes
range from two to six in number. The number listed for any given specimen varies in
confidence, often because the metal jacket has deteriorated. For example, the Jackson, Alabama
specimen has two holes in the reverse that are visible in its illustration (Moore 1905:259), but
others may occur. The specimen from the New Castle site, Indiana (Cree 1992:4), has at least
two holes on its reverse side. Preservation is better on other panpipes, such as the three-tube
copper panpipe from Bowman, Ohio, which clearly has four holes on its reverse side. A copper
three-tube panpipe from Donaldson II, Ontario, clearly has five holes (Appendix 18.4 Figures 1
and 2) and a copper four-tube example from the same site has six.
Some kind of cordage or twine may have been threaded through the holes of a panpipe’s
jacket in order to tie its ends together securely. This is suggested by fragments of twine that
remain in the perforations of the panpipe from Helena Crossing, Arkansas. Further, on four
panpipes from the Hopewell site, Ohio, "the ends of the copper tend to overlap rather than abut"
(Leader 1988:99). Two of the panpipes from this site have "six holes ... three to an end,” which
were "probably to ensure secure closure by lacing with organic materials (e.g. twine, rawhide or
sinew)" according to Leader (1988:99).
A three-tube copper specimen from Murphy's Island, Florida, has a round hole directly in
the center of the panpipe. Another panpipe from this site has a single round hole in the center
and also has at least one perforation near the edge. The central holes may represent a ritual
“killing” of the panpipe or could have been used to attached the panpipe to clothing, like a large
badge or button (Turff 1997:49).
Organic Tubes and Packing Materials
The organic inner tubes and packing materials around them are seldom well preserved, and often
nothing of the inner tubes has been recovered. Even when preserved, references to tubes in the
literature are sometimes problematic because they are ambiguously identified as "reed,” which
might denote reed-like organic material or specifically the “reed” of a woodwind instrument
(Turff 1997:82-83). Cases in point include the panpipes from Rutherford, Illinois, and North
Benton, Ohio (Magrath 1945).
Braids that appear to be organic can be observed within the metal jackets of two
panpipes: a copper-with-silver specimen from Mount Vernon, Indiana, and a copper panpipe
from LeVesconte, Ontario. The braids extend from under the metal jackets. In the specimen
from LeVesconte, Turff (1997:85) observed that the braids lie parallel to the inner tubes.
Whether the braids functioned for more than packing in the tubes is unknown. (It may be
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significant that the silver from Mount Vernon panpipe sources to Cobalt, Ontario, near
LeVesconte, increasing the similarity of the two panpipes.)
Directly Associated Materials
Various materials were placed directly on or beneath a panpipe's metal cover when buried.
Fragments of pearls and possibly leather were found on top of a copper panpipe from Mount
Vernon, Indiana, while "several pearls and a bone" laid under the jacket (Tomak 1994:28). The
bone, which may be a fragmented human vertebra, is not a panpipe tube (Curtis Tomak, personal
communication). Its placement does not appear to have been accidental. Similarly, a pearl slug
was crushed under the copper jacket of the panpipe from Kraske, Illinois. The function of the
pearls, leather, and bone is unknown. The leather could indicate a pouch or bundle in which the
panpipe was placed, or clothing or costumery on which it was placed.
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