Vesicular Basalt Pipe – Cloud Blower
Vesicular Basalt Pipe – Interactive 3D Model (left click and drag on image to adjust view)
This object is a 3,000-year-old pipe made of vesicular basalt. It was found at the site of Las Capas, near Tucson, Arizona. This pipe was manufactured by grinding two cone-shaped voids from opposite ends of a piece of basalt. Sometimes, these objects are called “cloud blowers,” because they can be used to create a cloud of smoke by blowing out through the pipe, instead of inhaling heated vapors.
Read more about this object in Archaeology Southwest, Volume 24, Numbers 1 and 2.
.