At first you see low rises on the landscape, but soon your eye picks out regular patterns in these hills. When you trace the patterns, these hills turn into familiar shapes - animals rising out of the ground in low relief. These effigies aren't nature's work. Native Americans peoples created them between 850 and 1,400 years ago. Earthen effigy mounds began to appear 1,400 yrs ago, and were possibly religious sites or clan symbols used in ceremonies. Some tribal stories hold that the bear is the guardian of the Earth and the bird the guardian of the Sky. Perhaps the mounds were a means of connecting the people to the land and their spirit world and ancestors. It is with respect that we walk amongst the mounds and trace the spirit of these Woodland Indians at this northeast corner of Iowa on the Upper Mississippi River. It is awe striking and deeply touching to walk next to these mounds and to know that we are walking on sacred ground. |
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Allan & Sri, Where we are now:
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