Iowa I Opener: Effigy Mounds National Monument

The Mississippian Culture of North America  was the predominant civilization in the eastern half of the United States, sans New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and Florida, from roughly 800 A.D. until about 1400. As I wrote in my previous series post, they are best known for their mound building. Many mounds were been plowed under by pioneer farmers--who likely had no idea what they were destroying.

Part of the Great Bear Mound Group

But unlike most of Iowa, the bluffs along the Mississippi at Pike's Peak State Park and Effigy Mounds National Monument aren't suitable for farming--so the mounds survived.

There are 206 mounds within the monument, which was declared in 1949, 31 of them are effigies. The best way to view them are from an airplane.

Or from Heaven. Many of the earthen creations are burial mounds.

There are also conical, linear, and compound earthenworks.

Lime marking, Effigy Mound

The mound on the top right is part of the Great Bear group of effigies, but  you obviously can't tell from the photograph. Other effigies are of turtles, birds, and reptiles. Grass is allowed to grow uncut on top of the mounds, around them its cut--making it easy to differentiate from the rest of the terrain. The mounds aren't very tall--the steepest I encountered, pictured on the lower right, is just four feet high. The longest mound in the park is 212 feet long.

At one time many the mounds were bordered by lime, but it appears that almost all of it has been removed. Note: I did not visit every section of the park. On the left is the only lime marking I could find, which was barely noticeable, next to one of the Little Bear Mounds.

A tall mound

Next: More Effigy Mounds

Earlier posts:

Buffalo Bill
Pikes Peak

Related posts:

Four Corners Furtherance: Mesa Verde National Park and the Ancients
Four Corners Furtherance: More of Mesa Verde National Park
My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: The Natchez Trace Part Two, Indian Mounds