‘Clay Cannabis Pipes’? Interpretative approach between archaeological and historical sources on cannabis and clay smoking pipes in the Iberian Peninsula from late medieval to early modern periods

Abstract

This contribution is intended to suggest aspects of several clay smoking pipes exhumed in archaeological interventions between Portugal and Spain. In this regard, some archaeological works published clay smoking pipes which were defined as ‘hashish pipes’ (pipas de hachís or cachimbos de haxixe) related to the use of Cannabis sp. by the Moors, predominately the Sufis, between the 10th-15th-centuries. These have been described as a diverse Nasrid production based on historical and etymological evidence. However, these artifacts reveal morphological elements which currently promote a reinterpretation due to new research and typologies.