The snow has fallen in Southwestern Wisconsin and I am dying to go and visit the intaglio Indian effigy Mound in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. In the winter, with snow fallen, you can see the outline of an intaglio mound (actually the inverse of a mound, dug into the earth)... I originally heard of this from my friend Karen Estrada (whose husband is an archaeologist from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on this very special spot). It is one of the few in the world. But it is too far and too late today. The sun sets at three, it seems these days. But around me, based here in Spring Green, are so many other effigy mounds... in Devil's Lake, Madison (many, many -- saw the ones on the shores of Monona last week -- wind-swept and weedy, quite haunting), Sauk City(tried to visit some back in the woods there last week, but it was deer-hunting season and I was advised it!), Muscoda (beautiful and beautifully tended), and more... They are incredible -- one of the great wonders of the world and they wrap the surface of our landscape here in southern Wisconsin from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.
I saw Robert Birmingham on the educational station in the Madison area on Sunday doing a special television program on them. Fantastic! He is the archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society in charge of the Burial Sites Preservation Program. His book INDIAN MOUNDS OF WISCONSIN -- co-written with Leslie Eisenberg -- is just eye-openingly fantastic. Highly recommended (on Marie's List!)
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