Laserfiche WebLink
SHORT UPDATE ON MOUNDS <br /> We are talking about an ancient people. The first human voices <br /> heard in Wisconsin, about 12,000 years ago, were of the Mongoloid race, <br /> whose ansestors crossed the Bering Strait land bridge about 18,000 years <br /> ago into Alaska. <br /> Wisconsin natives are Woodland indians. In the Middle Woodland <br /> societies (300B.C.- 400A.D.), burial was primarily in mounds. As we move <br /> into the Late Woodland period (A.D. 400- 1634) , burial mounds are still <br /> used, but an unusual type of mounds is also found. These mounds are <br /> called "effigy mounds" and are so named because they were built in the <br /> shape of various birds and other animals. Wisconsin is the major location <br /> for these unique mounds. <br /> The most common effigy mound shapes are the panther, turtle, bird, <br /> and bear. They usually inculde small conical mounds and elongated linear <br /> mounds. <br /> Current interpretation of the meaning of these effigy mounds <br /> varies. Some feel that they are markers of territorial boundries. Then <br /> again some postulate that since effigy mounds tend to be located near <br /> lakes and rivers with extensive wetlands that provide abundant natural <br /> food resources, they related to seasonal gathering and dispersal <br /> activities. <br /> Historical notations from older settlers tell of many occasions <br /> when bands of indians, pilgrim-like, returned to these silent mounds and <br /> held mystic rites over them for days. Could they be "power centers" with <br /> spiritual sigificance? <br /> Much has yet to be learned about our Wisconsin heritage. Artifacts <br /> and mounds have much more meaning if placed in their total context. <br /> These people were of the land, where rivers, lakes, trees, and wildlife, <br /> shared a coexisting life force as their own. This land as it now stands, <br /> is very close to how it must have been those many years ago. <br /> Joy Anderson <br /> Jan. 14, 1989 <br />