by Stephen Langley, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee
Volume 70, Number 2, April 2023 Central States Archaeological Journal
I had made plans to go artifact hunting with my buddy, Stanley Thurman, on Thanksgiving Day in 1989. Stanley and I both worked at United Parcel Service. He was a package truck washer at the Athens, Tennessee UPS Center, and I came through Athens, Tennessee every night to pick up the Next Day Air packages and then transport them to the air facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the time, I was driving a semi-truck for UPS out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Stanley and I shared a love for Indian artifacts and had become friends.
I had to work on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving Day in 1989. When I got off from work on Thanksgiving morning, I hurried home. I was excited because Thanksgiving Day had always been my most productive day to look for artifacts.
When I arrived at my home, my wife met me at the door. She was pregnant with my son and suffering from morning sickness. So, I had to call my buddy Stanley and tell him that I couldn’t go artifact hunting that morning. I understood why my wife wanted me to stay at home that morning, but I was disappointed as would be expected.
When I called Stanley and gave him the bad news, he asked if I’d object if he took another friend of his, Charlie Moore, with him. I told Stanley that it would be OK with me. He then asked where I thought he and Charlie should hunt that morning. I told him where I had planned to hunt, and he called Charlie. Charlie Moore had never been artifact hunting, and Thanksgiving Day in 1989 was his first time to go.
My phone rang that morning at about 11 a.m. When I answered the phone, I heard Stanley’s excited voice on the other end and my heart sank. Stanley told me that Charlie had beginner’s luck and had found a beautiful cloud blower tube pipe with a stick man effigy engraved on it. Charlie found the pipe in the exact spot that I had suggested they hunt. Later on that afternoon, Stanley and Charlie brought the pipe to my home and let me see and hold it. I had hoped that Charlie would part with the pipe, but that was wishful thinking. For 23 years he kept the pipe locked up in a safe deposit box at his local bank. Then, in 2012, without my knowledge, he sold the pipe to another collector.
Then, in February of 2020, at the Gallatin Tennessee artifact show, I once again got the honor of holding the “Stick Man Cloud Blower Tube Pipe.” This time I was able to acquire it. After 31 years had passed, I now get to enjoy the pipe that I always felt I would have found on that Thanksgiving Day in 1989.
The pipe was found near the Tennessee River at Clear Creek in Rhea County, Tennessee. It measures 6” in length, 1½” in width, and is 1¼” tall (Figs. 1, 2). It has two engraved figures on it and is said to depict male and female effigies (Figs. 3, 4). The middle has two rings around it with fine engraving on each of them (Fig. 5). The pipe is highly polished and a wonderful work of prehistoric art. I’m truly blessed to get to enjoy this pipe.