Alaska has sat at the confluence of intercontinental trade between North America and Asia since time immemorial. While it is tempting to think of Alaska as having been insulated from international trade prior to Western colonial expansion, the Yupik and Inupiat peoples of Western Alaska have long maintained trade relations with communities in Siberia and beyond. Among the goods traded were smoking pipes based on Chinese opium pipe designs. Though not as elaborately carved, the Alaska Native versions maintained the horn-like shape and flared, flat-topped bowls of their Asian archetypes.

This unusual Central Yup'ik example comes from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and features a bifurcated stem held together with a hide wrapping. [1] The two-piece stem serves as a nicotine trap, the concentrated contents of which could be scraped out and then smoked. Like Siberian Yupik examples, this pipe has a cast-lead bowl and should not be smoked or handled without caution. Due to the health risks associated with working with lead, these pipes have not been made since the mid-20th century.

1. For a similar example, see Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, cat. no. E176169-0.

2. William W. Fitzhugh and Susan A. Kaplan, Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982), p. 164.

CWS