Image Details

Photo courtesy of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus

In the inner sanctum of a temple in Kition, Cyprus, archaeologist Vassos Karageorghis found this 5-inch-long ivory pipe, from the 12th century B.C. The pipe has a Cypro-syllabic inscription suggesting that it was used in the temple, probably for smoking opium. Dark stains on one of the pipe’s apertures are traces of burning (compare with photo of tubular vase).