Effigy Mound Culture represents a successful
social and environmental adaptation by Late Woodland
people (A.D. 600-1000) in the Upper Mississippi Valley and surrounding
Driftless (unglaciated) Region.
Effigy Mound people practiced a
sophisticated version of what anthropologists refer to as a seasonal
round. Building on thousands of years of Archaic and Woodland traditions,
Effigy Mound people perfected the ability to develop social and
religious structures to frame and give meaning to the convergence
and dispersal of kin groups in relation to seasonally available
resources.
This elaborate system of movement included spring congregations
of small family
groups at large, multi-band gatherings at specific locations near resource
rich areas along major river valleys. These areas were usually close to the confluence
of tributaries with the Mississippi and were locations representing “sacred
landscapes” that had been used by previous generations of Woodland peoples.
During these gatherings people likely exchanged news, traded goods, found marriage
partners, buried the deceased and engaged in rituals that integrated the different
bands with each other and the cycles of the natural world. Archaeologists infer
these gatherings took place from the distribution and types of sites attributed
to Effigy Mound people as well as comparison with historic groups who also engaged
in similar spring/summer congregations.
As fall approached, small family bands began to break off and head into the interior
in search of mast trees and rock
shelters to inhabit through the winter. From
these interior rock shelters, Effigy Mound people had easy access to large deer
herds
who had also migrated inland in search of winter shelter and food. As spring
warmed, these small family groups would once again head to a location where they
would re-unite with their kin from other bands.
At Effigy Mound sites, archaeologists often find small chipped stone projectile
points used to tip arrows and very thin, cordmarked pottery often referred to
as Madison ware. For many decades this pottery was deemed un-interesting and
inferior to the Hopewell and Mississippian ceramics that came before and after.
Recently archaeologists have re-examined Effigy Mound pottery in a new light,
realizing that many of the cord impressed designs on the rim and neck were created
from the impressions of elaborately woven collars. When looking at the hundreds
of hours required weaving the collars with intricate designs, the sophistication
of these vessels and symbolic meaning of the decorations is seen in much better
detail. Although archaeologists have not yet “decoded” the meaning
of these complicated decorations, they do know that they likely contain complex
messages related to Effigy Mound symbolism and cosmology. Thus the supposedly “simple” late
Woodland pottery is anything but in many ways.
The most well known, in a superficial way, but most confounding aspect of Effigy
Mound culture is the effigy mounds themselves. Since Europeans and Americans
first began exploring, conquering and settling the region, people have pontificated
on the meaning of these mounds. Interpretations have ranged from claiming they
were built by a “vanished race of mound builders,” to being tribal
clan totems, boundary markers and monuments for observing the stars. Only recently
have archaeologists began to confer with contemporary Native communities in the
Midwest about the possible meaning of the mounds. Although making direct connections
between current and past people is challenging, there can be no doubt that a
better understanding of Native religious and cosmological beliefs offers much
toward understanding the effigy mounds in a more humanistic, and accurate way.
The convergence of archaeological data and discussions with contemporary
native
people has led to the belief that these “enigmatic” mounds were
in fact constructed during the gatherings described above as part of integrative
rituals and in fact represent “maps” of the cosmology of Effigy Mound
people. The construction of balanced mound groups containing Upper World (Thunderbird)
and underworld (Bear and Water Panther) spirit representations near their respective
habitats (Thunderbirds on ridges and along major valleys and Water panthers emerging
from springs and lakes) may be one indication of the role these mound constructions
played in maintaining universal balance and integration. Despite these possible
gains in understanding, these monumental constructions are complex and we are
likely only scratching the surface of what they meant to the people who built
them.
What happened to the Effigy Mound people is one of the many “unsolved mysteries” of
Upper Midwest archaeology. At the present, many archaeologists believe that despite
the success of their seasonal round, population pressures eventually stressed
this tradition of mobility to the breaking point. Evidence for this is seen in
the gradual “filling” up of secondary and tertiary valleys with habitation
and mound sites, indicating that it was becoming increasingly difficult for people
to move freely as interior areas were already occupied. The evidence for more
corn cultivation and accumulation of larger mussel shell middens along the Mississippi
indicates that some people were staying there longer as populations occupying
the upland valleys prevented them from migrating inland. There is also evidence
for a catastrophic collapse in deer populations, with cave art showing desperate
hunters resorting to killing pregnant deer in the late winter. Although such
emergency measures would temporarily keep away starvation, it would contribute
to further decline in the deer population. As the time-tested traditions of the
Effigy Mound people began to fail, populations were susceptible to new ideas
emanating from the south. These ideas and ways of seeing the world were very
different from traditional Woodland ways, and would have a profound impact on
Native history in the region for hundreds of years.
A good place to learn more about the Effigy Mound
People of the Upper Mississippi is the website for Effigy
Mounds National Monument. This offsite link will take you there.
|
