Clay tobacco pipes found on former execution sites in Silesia, Poland

Abstract

SUMMARY This article contains a detailed discussion of clay pipe finds from five execution sites located in Silesia, Poland. The assemblage is dominated by pipes from the 18th century with a small percentage of examples from the 17th and 19th centuries. Mainly Dutch pipes were identified in the analysed group, pipes manufactured in a local workshop, and several examples of pipes made by a different technique. This assemblage stands out because of the context of its discovery – at former execution sites – and the socio-economic interpretations we can made due to the association of the pipes with this unusual context.