Woodland Period – Page 2 – My Wisconsin Space

This Monument, near Marquette, Iowa and across the Mississippi River from Prairie du Chen, Wisconsin, has some of the best preserved effigy mounds in the Midwest. There are over 200 mounds in this 2,500 acre Monument. 31 mounds are in the shapes of birds or bears. The largest, the Great Bear, is 137 feet long. President Harry Truman designated the area a Monument in 1949. Research has revealed evidence that the mound-building cultures existed here for at least 1,800 years. The mound building cultures of the upper Midwest built their mounds sometime between 800 b.c. And a.d. 1200. The effigy mounds were built in the latter half of that time period. Music copyright 2007 by Maury Smith. Slide show by John Wanserski.