Spanish Hill

Effigy Mounds are those that were shaped like animals and or spirits and although they did include human burials in some of them. They can be found today in states such as Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin, with Wisconsin having the highest concentration of any state that I know of east of the Mississippi. In fact, my travels in Wisconsin are the basis for this area of the website for the most part. For that reason, the Fort Ancient Culture and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) effigy mounds are really the effigy mound groups that I am talking about as I discuss my knowledge of effigy mounds.

The purpose of the effigy mounds seem to have been more for ceremonial, astrologic alignment/calendar, and even navigational purposes. But the truth is that your guess is as good as anyone's unless you are Native Indian and have the ability to ask the right people. Lets face it...the white man came here and took the land, wiped out THOUSANDS of these mounds to make farmland and to build homes etc...and they did this by claiming that the Native Indians that lived in their midst did not have anything to do with them. (See the MoundBuilder Myth) Instead the settlers and so called scientists of the day claimed some lost civilization created these great mounds instead. No - connection - no claim....So who can blame the the Native Indians today if they refuse to tell the white folk anything more about them...we didn't want to listen when it mattered most. Still, there are "white men" that satyed the course of doing what was right no matter the score at the popularity contest. Watch this video of a man who Wisconsin refers to simple as "Archaeologist," no better salute needed.

So here is what I can tell you that I have researched and tried my best to make sense of with my English and Dutch heritage, the internet, and some air miles...

Probably the most well-known of all the effigy mounds that still exist that I have seen is in Ohio and called the "Serpent Mound." It is one of the-

Click here to watch a video we did of an intaglio (carved) effigy mound in Madison, Wisconsin.

Many people agree that the "Serpent" of the Serpent Mound, is a symbol of a spirit that is also referred to a ""water spirit", or "water panther." The water spirit symbology can be followed throughout many ancient cultures and is one that can be seen represented in many places in Native Indian petroglyphs as well as effigy mounds and other effigy representations.

There are some characteristics that define a water spirit as opposed to a regular serpent or snake, although you may find some used and some not at any given time. Some of those characteristics include:

As stated before, the "Serpent Mound" in Ohio is really a great example of an effigy mound that has been preserved and that you can see just how impressive the work was that went into creating it.

The effigy mound is over a quarter mile long and has been made into a national park. There are also a handful of burial mounds around the outskirts of this mound as well.

But there are actually "Water Panther" shaped mounds that are not as snake-like as well :

Click here to watch a video we did of a Thunderbird effigy mound at the University of Wisconsin.

Just as there are spirits in Native Indian many cultures that there are spirits of the "underworld," so are there spirits of the "upperworld." Again - this is not a division of good and evil, but a belief that these spirits actually live above the world that man lives in...meaning above where any birds can fly, etc.

The thunderbirds were believed to be huge enemies of the water spirits, and use lightning bolts they shoot from their eyes and eggs that they throw like bombs as their powerful arsenal as they constantly are in search of waterspirits in their mission to destroy them.

Again - the Thunderbird is a widely used symbol throughout many cultures and were believed in as far back as the ancient times.

I must point out that it is very hard for those of us that grew up with other belief systems to understand this "upperworld" and ""underworld" scenario without thinking about "the heavens" or "hell"...But these were not ideas that the Native Indians had. Instead, they felt that they (the Indians) existed in a place that had many forces and even other environments that they had actually nothing to do with, but needed to understand purely to be safe if they found themselves in the midst of them. So they believed that there were thunderbirds and waterspirits and some may harm you if you happened to cross their paths.

When I spent time up in Wisconsin, I was able to learn a little about the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) belief system about the battle between the two, and actually was able to visit the place where their greatest of battles supposedly took place, Devil's Lake. When you paddle around Devil's Lake - one thing that strikes you is that there are "tons" of turkey vultures that are soaring above you, and to me, it gave me a sense of understanding of how the following legend began...There is only two other places that I have seen such a concentration of these large, ancient looking birds, one is the Serpent Mound in Ohio, and the other is Spanish Hill.

I have also heard that the constant battle between the two (thunderbirds and waterspirits) kept a balance in man's world, which was symbolized by the next shape of most common effigy mounds:

The bear effigy mounds then represent this world that man lives in. Sadly the only bear mound that I found in our travels that was STILL in tact was one at Devil's Lake next to linear mound. Click here to watch the video. Here is another video from the Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin.

If you are looking for ALOT of effigy mounds within a small region, I have found that the state of Wisconsin and once home to the great Ho-Chunk, ( Winnebago ) is a place you should visit. The videos that can be found on this site concerning Effigy mounds all come from spending a few days around Madison Wisconsin. I believe that even though thousands of mounds are now gone, it is still a grand salute to a long lost Effigy Mound Builders culture and Ho-Chunks ( Winnebagos ) who once lived here.

Here are maps drawn by Squier and Davis of some effigy mound groups in Wisconsin (click for larger images):

Here is a list of all videos accessible from this section and concerning the Effigy Mound Culture in Wisconsin.

Man-made mounds are mounds that were made from the ground up and fall into four basic shapes or categories. Conical mounds, Effigy mounds, Temple Mounds and Geometric (usually linear) mounds.


Conical Mounds - look like pyramids except that they are rounded. They, just as the great pyramids, were built in honor of some special shaman or king, and are in fact burial sites for them as well.	Effigy Mounds - are shaped like animals and or spirits, and were believed to have ceremonial, navigational and calendar-like purposes. It is known that many of these align with the stars and could have been used to predict solstices, and even eclipses.


Temple Mounds - were mounds that either were man-made or "truncated" natural hills. Structures (many times temples) were placed upon the flattened top and were considered to be "living spaces" for shamans or their leaders and their families.	Geometric-Shaped Mounds - were usually circular, square, or linear in shape, and were thought to have alot of the same uses as the effigy mounds, but sometimes (like the Newark site above) were believed to be created together to build ceremonial & observatory inside large complexes.

To learn more about the people who built the mounds, use the following links: