Response to J.B.'s "Indian Mounds of Wisconsin"

I definitely enjoyed reading J.B.'s "Indian Mounds of Wisconsin" post, especially his speculations derived from R. Clark Mallam's quote that "effigy mounds were built to symbolize and ritually maintain balance and harmony with the natural world within the context of ceremonialism to renew the world."

J.B. asserted that there are two possible ways to interpret that quote. Although his wording implied only two possible ways (total), maybe he meant that he dealt with two interpretations, not that those were the only two. I will briefly address both of J.B.'s interpretations of the quote, and then any other interpretations that were prominent in the reading.

In his first of two interpretations, J.B. attested that ceremonial mounds were built in appreciation for natural gifts (plentiful harvests or hunts, etc.). The mounds represented the overwhelming gratitude the Indians felt for the cause of their good fortune (e.g. God). The second interpretation was a little less clear, and I do not want to alter J.B.'s views, but it was definitely another valid speculation as to Mallam's meaning. In this case, the mounds were not built out of gratitude, but instead almost as a bribe to their higher being. The Indians basically believed in karma, and therefore found reason for inexplicable natural occurences in their own past actions. If that were the case, why do they build mounds at all? This seemed like the logical question to ask of this interpretation. However, since they do still believe in a higher power, building the mounds might create positive karma that would influence their prosperity in the future. These both seemed like possible explanations, more so in the context of the quote and Mallam's interpretation.

Forgetting about Mallam for a minute, the article mentions numerous other possible explanations for the effigy mound building, yet still asserts that "the origins of effigy mound ceremonialism are unclear"(140). It is impossible to know, with complete certainty, the reasons people had for creating huge ceremonial mounds hundreds of years ago. Since "the Late Woodland was an unstable period of rapid technological, economic, and social change; population growth; warfare; and physical movements of tribes and bands"(140), people either needed a way to bring "the world back into balance and harmony"(141), or to "define themselves in relation to intruders and competing ideologies"(141). This reminds me of the transition from the Pleistocene into the Holocene, and how these huge cultural changes spawned a new sense of spirituality. People generally need a gradual transition into a new lifestyle, especially if the change is as dramatic as the culture shift the Late Woodlanders experienced; religion offers a welcome explanation for the new, uncomprehendable circumstances.