The red pipestone (catlinite) quarries of southwestern Minnesota hold a unique position in the spiritual geography of North America: they were considered sacred neutral ground. Peoples who might be at war with each other elsewhere laid down their weapons at the quarries. The stone itself — soft, red, carvable — was understood as the flesh and blood of ancestors, or in some traditions, as the blood of the people who perished in a great flood.

The Dakota (Sioux) origin narrative for the pipestone tells of a time when the Great Spirit called all nations together at the quarry. Standing on the red stone, the Great Spirit broke off a piece, fashioned it into a pipe, and smoked it over them, telling the assembled peoples that the red stone was their flesh, that it belonged to all of them, and that they must use it to make pipes of peace. The quarries were thereafter sacred and inviolable — a place where no blood could be shed.

This tradition of sacred neutrality is remarkable because it was honored across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Peoples speaking Siouan, Algonquian, and Caddoan languages all recognized the quarries as special ground. Pipes carved from this stone were carried across the continent, found in archaeological contexts from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. The stone was a medium for prayer, diplomacy, and connection to the spiritual world.