Beloit Effigy Mounds - Beloit, WI
N 42° 30.175 W 089° 01.782
16T E 333232 N 4707613
These Effigy Linear and Conical Mounds were the ancient home of the Winnebago Indians. They are located on the Beloit College campus in Beloit, WI.
Waymark Code: WM2FEK
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 10/25/2007
Views: 57
From the Beloit College web site:
"Scattered about the Beloit College campus are 23 conical, linear and animal effigy mounds built between about AD 700 and 1200. One, in the form of a turtle, has inspired the symbol of the College. These mounds and others like them are found in Southern Wisconsin and adjacent portions of the surrounding states. They were built by Native Americans identified by archaeologists as Effigy Mound peoples. Current research by Beloit College archaeologists is proving that these people were the ancestors of the modern Ho-Chunk Nation.
The mounds are not high (no more than five feet) and usually small, although a newly-discovered bird effigy has a wingspan of 1310 feet. They were usually built along bluff tops adjacent to rivers, and the Beloit College group illustrates this pattern. Mounds also usually occur in groups of from two to more than two hundred. Based on maps made by early explorers, it is estimated that more than 20,000 such mounds existed prior to the arrival of the pioneers. Today, fewer than 3000 remain, the others having been destroyed by farming and urban expansion."
Visit Instructions: To log your visit to this Waymark, post a picture of your GPSr next to the artifact. Post a second, wider picture to show the "Ancient Evidence" in context.