Burial Mounds in Wisconsin

Indian peoples have lived in the area we now call Wisconsin for more than 12,000 years. Throughout this time, Indian peoples engaged in a universal practice of humans – the respectful burial of their dead.

Wisconsin is the center of effigy mound culture.
From a National Park Service graphic

During the Woodland period (about 500 BC to 1000 AD), earthwork or “mound” construction (generally associated with burial of the dead) developed.

Wisconsin has a large number of such mounds, although many have been destroyed or otherwise affected by later development and natural processes. In Late Woodland times, Indian peoples began to build animal-shaped or “effigy” mounds–birds, bears, and panthers are common forms. Because of the especially dense concentration of effigy mounds in the state, Wisconsin is considered to be the center of what is referred to as “effigy mound culture.”

In addition to building mounds, Woodland peoples developed other technological innovations including plant domestication, pottery, and, late in the period, the bow and arrow.

Effigy Mounds National Monument, in Iowa across the river from Wyalusing State Park, has many effigy mounds.

Many burial mounds, as well as other burial sites (both Indian and non-Indian), are in DNR parks, forests, and other properties. The department removes brush and trees from the mounds and promotes the growth of native plants on them. We do not mow the mounds. State law [exit DNR] protects all such burial areas, including those on public and private lands, against unauthorized disturbance.

Other mounds, such as platform mounds, are also protected as burial mounds even though they served different primary functions. Examples are those related to Mississippian (not Woodland) people of Aztalan. There are very few such sites in Wisconsin, but Aztalan is important as the northern expression of a Mississippian period "empire," directly related to the great site of Cahokia, Illinois (near St. Louis), a World Heritage Site [exit DNR] .