The University of Wisconsin Press
Native American Studies / Archaeology / History / Wisconsin
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Spirits of Earth Between A.D. 700 and 1100 Native Americans built more effigy mounds in
Wisconsin than anywhere else in North America, with an estimated 1,300 mounds—including the world's largest known bird effigy—at the center of effigy-building culture in and around Madison, Wisconsin. These huge earthworks, sculpted in the shape of birds, mammals, and other figures, have aroused curiosity for generations and together comprise a vast effigy mound ceremonial landscape. Farming and industrialization destroyed most of these mounds, leaving the mysteries of who built them and why they were made. The remaining mounds are protected today and many can be visited. Spirits of Earth explores the cultural, historical, and ceremonial meanings of the mounds in an informative, abundantly illustrated book and guide.
Wisconsin Public Television talk: Praise: “Draws the reader past technical jargon and into a world where expressions of cosmology, religion, and ideology have most often been construed by outsiders. [Birmingham] guides the reader through different interpretations of why effigy mounds were built, what they may have meant, and how they may have served the cultures who constructed them.” |
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Robert A. Birmingham served as Wisconsin State Archaeologist at the Wisconsin Historical Society for fifteen years. He now teaches at the University of
Wisconsin—Waukesha and writes from his home in Madison. He is coauthor, with Leslie E. Eisenberg, of 
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