History & Culture

Pipestone National Monument is a storied landscape. Numerous tribes around the country have oral traditions connecting them to this site, Euro-Americans have been visiting and writing about it since the 1600s, and archeologists have found evidence for over 3,000 years of human activity here. Today, Pipestone National Monument is officially affiliated with 23 tribal nations and Indigenous people from across the country keep ancient quarrying traditions alive to this day.

Learn more about the cultures, traditions, histories, and research of Pipestone National Monument.

 

 

 

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  The types of artifacts stored here

  Collections

  A list of the types of artifacts in our collection and a link to several virtual tours of NPS collections around the country.

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  History of the pipestone quarries

  The Blood of the People: Resource Study

  Online version of the recorded and oral histories of the Pipestone quarries

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  Study of historical affiliations

  Cultural & Traditional Associations

  Study of Native American cultural affiliations and traditional associations