Plate 1. 
This large, stone pipe represents a player of a game still 
played in historic times throughout the Southeast called 
chunkey, which has been spelled a number of dif- 
ferent ways. Swanton, 1946 (Bureau of American Ethnology, 
Bulletin 137, p.682) has a good description of the game. 
“There are evidently several different varieties (of the game 
of chunkey), but all made use of a smooth stone roller and 
two long, slender poles, often supplied with short crosspieces 
midway of their length. While there were usually only two 
active participants, numbers of onlookers wagered quantities 
of property on the outcome. The essence of the game was 
to start the roller along a smooth piece of ground with 
which every town was supplied, after which the two players 
threw their poles after it with the idea of hitting the stone, 
coming as near it as possible when the stone came to rest, 
or preventing the opponent’s stick from accomplishing 
either of these results.” In the West a similar game was 
played with a small hoop instead of a smooth stone roller. 
Rollers like those used in the game historically have been 
found throughout the South and Middle West. Some, which 
date as early as A.D. 900-1000 were found in Mound 72 
at Cahokia. They are usually associated with the Mississippi 
culture. Disc-shaped, smooth stone rollers are usually called 
discoidals in archaeological reports. 
It will be remembered that Mr. F.S. Brochett in his letter of 
February 8, 1900 to Dr. Whelpley described the pipe figure 
as holding a ‘“‘medicine bowl” in his right hand and ‘‘two 
long round clubs”’ in his left. Mr. Brochett was obviously 
not well informed. The right hand holds a discoidal, the left 
two poles, as described by Swanton. 
