The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
In the State of Wisconsin are found some of the most interesting
remains of the Mound Builders. They are so different from the
ordinary remains found elsewhere that we must admit that the
people who built them differed greatly from the tribes who built
the great temple mounds of the South, or the earthworks of Ohio.
The remains in Wisconsin are distinguished not by their great
size or height, but by their singular forms. Here the mound
building instincts of the people were expressed by heaping up the
earth in the shape of animals. What strange fancy it was that led
them to mould the figures on the bluffy banks of the rivers and
the high lands about the lakes of their country, we shall perhaps
never know. That they had some design in this matter is, of
course, evident, and if we would try and learn their secret, we
must address ourselves to a study of the remains.
Effigy Mounds. Effigy mounds are almost exclusively confined to
the State of Wisconsin. We, indeed, find effigy mounds in other
sections, but they are of rare occurrence.43 They, however, show
that the same reasons, religious, or otherwise, exists in other
localities, while in the area covered by the southern portion of
the State of Wisconsin it found its greatest expression. This cut
affords us a fair idea of effigy mounds. Here are seen two
animals, one behind the other. On paper we can readily see the
resemblance. Stretched out on the ground, and of gigantic
proportions, the resemblance is not so marked, and some might
fail to notice it at first sight. Either of those figures is over
one hundred feet long, and about fifteen feet wide. With few
exceptions, effigy mounds are inconsiderable in height, varying
from one to four feet. These mounds have been carefully studied
of late years, and there is no doubt that in many instances we
can distinguish the animals represented.
We learn, then, that tribes formerly living in Wisconsin had the
custom of heaping up the earth in the shape of the various
animals peculiar to that section. But no effigies are found of
animals that have since become extinct, or of animals that are to
be found only in other lands.
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