EFFIGY MOUND

earthen mound in the form of an animal or bird found throughout the north-central United States. The effigy mounds are sometimes mistakenly classified with the numerous mounds that dot the area east of the Mississippi River, believed to be the work of prehistoric Indians broadly, and not accurately, designated as the mound builders. Less is known about the effigy mounds than about any of the others. Explorers such as Hernando de Soto (153942) have recorded, for example, that temple mounds in the southeastern U.S. served as earthen platforms on which the Indians built their temples and sometimes the houses of their chiefs. It is also known that the Hopewell culture (q.v.) was responsible for a great proliferation of mound building in the Ohio River Valley, including hundreds of burial mounds in which a treasure of artifacts, especially effigy pipes and gorgets (ornamental collars), have been found. Although it is known that most of the effigy mounds are burial sites, some are not, and their significance remains a mystery. Grave offerings are seldom found. The Effigy Mound culture has been dated from AD 300 to the mid-1600s. Many effigy mounds are in the form of birds, but other animal formssuch as those of bears, deer, turtles, and buffaloare common. The largest bird effigy mound has a wingspan of 624 feet (190 metres) and is located near Madison, Wis. Many other effigy mounds are found in southern and southwestern Wisconsin and in some areas of adjacent Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. The largest effigy mound is located in southern Ohio. In the form of an uncoiling snake holding an egg-shaped object in its mouth, the mound is more than 1,300 ft (400 m) long and 2 1/2 to 3 ft (75 to 90 cm) high. See also burial mound.