Pipestone Earrings~JSSPIPES

Sterling SIlver Pipestone Earrings~JSSPIPES. Pipestone (catlinite) quarries are considered a sacred site by many American Indians. For the last 3000 years, tribes across the central region of North America have traveled to this site to quarry. Pipestone was used for making Native American pipes used for prayer, and the scraps have been carved into Fetishes (animal carvings) and for jewelry. Black Elk said “When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything.” The task of extracting pipestone from the earth is a slow and labor intensive process and the hand tools used today are not much more advanced than the tools and methods used in centuries past. The layer of pipestone is sandwiched between layers of very hard Sioux Quartzite rock. 40mm Long. Bead size 18mm Long x 12mm wide.