Visit the Effigy Mounds National Monument Near Harper's Ferry, Iowa

When I first arrived at the Effigy Mounds National Monument near Harper's Ferry, IA, I had no idea what I was about to see. I had heard the term, "effigy mound," but didn't know what an effigy mound was. After having seen some, I know that it's helpful to think of the phrase, "hanging someone in effigy." That refers to constructing something to represent a person (a football coach, for example) and hanging it.

Apply the concept of constructing something to represent something else and you have an idea of what the effigy mounds are all about. A simple definition of an effigy mound, according to Wikipedia, is "a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, or human figure." Some have also been found in the shape of birds.

Although effigy mounds can be found in scattered locations across America, they are heavily clustered in the Upper Midwest area of the United States. According to gorp.away.com, the "Effigy Mound" culture built thousands of mounds. However, only in the upper Mississippi River valley was there a culture that specialized in the mounds called effigies -- representations of living creatures such as eagles, buffaloes, deer, and, bears.

The mnsu.edu website and the National Park Service website give some helpful information about the Effigy Mounds National Monument. It was established in 1949 to preserve the mounds created over a thousand years ago by the inhabitants of the area at that time. Little attention was paid to the mounds until 1881, when two men, Theodore H. Lewis and Alfred J. Hill, began to survey the mound groups in the Mississippi River valley. They produced maps of the mounds, including some that are now part of the Effigy Mounds National Monument. Some of the mounds were destroyed before the National Monument could be established, which added to the urgency of doing something to preserve the remaining mounds.

Through acts of Congress and the state of Iowa, approximately 2500 acres were set aside for the Effigy Mounds National Monument. Nearly 200 mounds are included in the Monument, of which approximately 30 are in the shape of bears or birds. The others are non-animal shapes, such as cones, for example.

The mounds are burial mounds. A decision-making process or ritual decided which animal or bird should be the shape of the mound for a particular person. Some of the mounds are huge. Great Bear Mound, for example, is 70 feet across the shoulders and forelegs, 137 feet long, and 31/2 feet high.

The best way to see the mounds would be from the air where their shapes would be most obvious. However, some of the mounds are outlined with pebbles or paths to make the shapes more visible.

A visit to the Effigy Mounds National Monument will give you a taste of a long-gone culture that has left its mark on the landscape of America. Just as current Native American Indians see the mounds as opportunities for contemplation, they may serve the same purpose for the rest of us.

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effigy_mound
gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_nm/ia_effig.htm
www.nps.gov/archive/efmo/home.htm
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/northamerica/effigy_mounds.html