Effigy Mounds National Monument
Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves more than 200 prehistoric mounds built by pre-Columbian
Mound Builder cultures, mostly in the first millennium CE, during the later part of the Woodland period of pre-Columbian North America.
Numerous effigy mounds are shaped like animals, including bears and birds.
Big Bear Mound at Effigy Mounds National Monument
An entrance to Effigy Mounds National Monument
Lidar-derived image of Marching Bears Mound Group, Effigy Mounds National Monument.
Woodland conical mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument, Sny Magill Unit, Clayton County, Iowa
An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. The Effigy Moundbuilder culture is primarily associated with the years 550–1200 CE during the Late Woodland Period, although radiocarbon dating has placed the origin of certain mounds as far back as 320 BCE.
Great Serpent Mound, Ohio, constructed ca. 200 BCE
One of many eagle-shaped mounds in Wisconsin, an effigy with a wingspan of 624 feet (190 m)