Effigy Mounds Were Built for Burial of the Dead During a and Earth Was Heaped Over Them

Sffigy zMounds NATIONAL MONUMENT • IOWA Illinois. The earth effigies, and some of shallow pits dug into the original soil. Conical and linear mounds also show the the conical and linear mounds near them, In others, burials were laid on the ground burial types mentioned above. Some corn Effigy Mounds were built for burial of the dead during a and earth was heaped over them. Other eals, however, were built by slightly dif period beginning well over 1,000 years times, they built up part of the mound, fering tribesmen which are called Hope ago, and lasting until around A. D. 1300. placed the burials on top and then com well by archeologists. Hopewell mounds NATIONAL MONUMENT Although the shape and size of many pleted erecting the mound. Treatment of often have rectangular burial pits within mounds imply a fair degree of social or the bodies is equally varied. Some were them and may contain 5 or 6 burials. United States Department of the Interior ganization, the basic economy of the buried with the flesh on the bones. These Grave offerings are richer and include pearl Effigy Mounds people was a simple one. nearly always occurred singly, with the Fred A. Seaton, Secretary beads, mica sheets, copper beads and For food, they hunted, fished, and gathered knees drawn up against the chest. The breastplates, large spears or knives, and National Park Service, Conrad L. Wirth, Director edible plants in the woods. Available secondary, or bundle burial, is a common bear-tooth ornaments. food animals included deer, bear, elk, type. Here, the body was exposed until Bundle burials, cremations, or burials Outstanding examples of Indian mounds in shapes of animals and birds bison, raccoon, rabbit, squirrel, opossum, the flesh was gone, whereupon some of the made with the flesh on the bones, and with beaver, turkey, ruffed grouse, and passen bones were gathered in a bundle and arms at the sides and legs extended, occur EFFIGY MOUNDS NATIONAL MONUMENT, an feet high and covering several acres. Esti ger pigeon. Fresh water clams, catfish, Broken ceremonial blades and a bear-tooth buried. Some bodies were cremated, in Hopewell mounds in this area. Some area of secluded valleys and weatherworn mates indicate existence of more than bass, and pickerel abounded in the streams, ornament. either on the mound site or in another spot, bodies may have been wrapped in cloth, 100,000 mounds before their mass destruc Mississippi River bluffs, preserves some of and plant food included wild rice, acorns, and the remains were buried. Some for textile fragments have been found pre tion under pressure of an expanding white the last traces of Indian peoples who maple sugar, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, similar to a wigwam or tepee was prob mounds have several burial types repre served by chemical action where the population. thrived here nearly 1,000 years ago while black walnuts, butternuts, wild cherries, ably constructed. sented. wrapping has come in contact with copper Many early investigators attributed the Europe was in the midst of the Crusades. gooseberries, plums, blackberries, rasp They made pottery for cooking and Burials may be found in the head, the burial goods. In contrast to feudal Europe's complexity, origin of the mounds to a mysterious race berries, and grapes. They may have occasionally placed pots in the mounds "heart," or the hindquarters of effigies. Hopewell culture was widespread in the called the "moundbuilders." But it is the culture of the Effigy Mounds people planted a little corn each year. After with burials. These vessels may have Common effigy shapes are birds and animals Middle West from around the beginning of now known that they were built by ances seems simple. Their life is known solely going on a summer hunt, they returned to contained food for the dead. They were suggesting hawks, eagles, bears, and foxes. the Christian era until about A. D. 1000. tors of the modern Indians, and no "lost from the burial mounds and village debris harvest the corn, at which time, perhaps, decorated by stamping the wet clay with In some parts of the Effigy Mound region, In Effigy Mounds National Monument, a race" is needed to explain them. Varia they left behind. they held a harvest ceremony. various objects, including cord-wrapped waterfowl, panthers, dogs, deer, rabbits, Hopewell-like conical mound, dated by tions in their size, shape, and content sug From knowledge of historic Indians un paddles, sticks, and single cords wrapped turtles, lizards, and even "human" forms the radiocarbon method, gave a date of gest that the same tribe did not build them The Prehistoric People der similar conditions, it can be supposed around the neck of the pot. The vessels also appear. 900 years ago, plus or minus a 300-year all, that the builders were not at the same that these moundbuilders wintered in had elongated bodies and pointed bot THE FIRST SETTLERS in the eastern United stage of cultural advancement, and that good hunting areas, camping in sheltered toms. Clay pipes imply the cultivation Copper breastplate from Hopewell mound. States found numerous Indian mounds as the mounds were not all built at the same valleys or bluff-edge rock shelters. A few of tobacco. silent evidence of people who had lived time. families who habitually hunted together Bone and copper awls were used for sew and died before the white man's coming. Effigy mounds are a type distinct from comprised the roving bands. As a loose- ing. Possibly they wove cloth, for earlier Mounds were distributed from the eastern those in surrounding regions. Built in the knit tribal group, the bands would have groups in related areas knew a form of seaboard west to Texas and north into shapes of animals and birds, they are con reunited once or twice a year for planting weaving. Judging from clothing of people Canada, but were most numerous along centrated in the northern Mississippi Val and harvest, communal hunts, or religious in nearby areas at this time, the women the Mississippi River. They ranged in ley, in an area taking in most of Wiscon observances. probably wore skirts of leather or cloth, size from hardly perceptible swells in the sin, part of eastern Minnesota, the eastern They hunted with either the "atlatl" moccasins, and bone, shell, or copper ground to artificial hillocks as much as 100 fringe of Iowa, and part of northwest (dart thrower) or the bow and arrow, or jewelry. Men wore similar jewelry, and both, although snares and traps were breechclouts and moccasins, and painted doubtless used as well. The harpoon was their bodies for additional adornment. used for fishing but they probably also The National Park System, of which Effigy Mounds National Monument is a had nets, hooks, and fish traps. Stone Their Mounds unit, is dedicated to the conservation of America's scenic, scientific, and historic and copper axes were used for chopping THE MOUNDS wherein the dead were buried heritage for the benefit and inspiration of the people. or as weapons. Nothing is known of their vary in external shape and in internal fea houses, but some form of temporary shelter tures. In some, the dead were placed in How To Reach the Monument viewpoints overlooking the valleys of the Mississippi and Yellow Rivers. The THE MONUMENT area extends north and round trip is 1.9 miles long and takes about south along the bluffs of the Mississippi 1 hour. River and is located 3 miles north of Mar There are no camping or picnicking quette, Iowa. It is reached by State Route facilities in the monument, but you may 13. obtain accommodations in nearby towns. Please do not disturb or harm the mounds, About Your Visit. plants, and animals within the monument You MAY VISIT the monument from 8 a. m. area. They are protected by law. to 5 p. m. during which time members of the monument staff are on duty to explain the Adm inistration features to you. Those who expect to Sffigy ^Mounds visit in a group may receive specially EFFIGY MOUNDS NATIONAL MONUMENT is guided trips if advance arrangements are administered by the National Park Service made with the superintendent. of the United States Department of the There is an interesting footpath which Interior. A superintendent, whose ad will lead you from headquarters to the dress is McGregor, Iowa, is in immediate The Mississippi River from Fire Point. Fire Point Mound Group and to scenic charge of the monument. margin of error. An animal effigy was part of conservation-minded Iowans for dated at 930 years ago, with the same over a quarter of a century. The State of margin of error. Iowa donated the land to the United States, and 1,204.36 acres included in the History monument are now in Federal ownership. The monument area is divided into two BELOW THE MONUMENT, across the Missis parts by the Yellow River. The Fire sippi, is the mouth of the Wisconsin River. Point Mound Group north of the Yellow Here, in 1673, Marquette and Joliet en River contains the largest bear effigy re tered the Mississippi on their voyage of maining in Iowa. This effigy, the Great discovery. Through a period of 150 years, Bear Mound, is 70 feet across the shoulders a series of French, English, and American and front legs, 137 feet long, and 5 feet trading and military posts were built in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien, Wis., to high- control this important confluence. Re South of the Yellow River, the March mains of a military road leading from Fort ing Bear Mound Group contains an align Crawford, Wis., to Fort Atkinson, Iowa, ment of 10 bear effigies, 3 bird effigies, and first used in 1840, may still be seen near 2 linear mounds.

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