CHAPTER II 



WINNEBAGO ARCHEOLOGY 

 General Problems 



One of the most interesting and important features of the area oc- 

 cupied by the Winnebago is the large number of earth mounds found. 

 That these mounds were made by the Winnebago or the Sioux there 

 seems to be little doubt. The participation of the Sioux in the con- 

 struction of these earth mounds seems, however, to have been con- 

 fined entirely to the so-called linear and conical types. The effigy 

 moimds seem to have been the work of the Winnebago exclusively^ 

 (figs. 2, 3). 



The first really serious study of the Wisconsin mounds was made 

 by I. A. Lapham in 1850, and his work must be considered of consid- 

 erable importance still, by reason of the admirable plats of mounds 

 long since leveled. The next discussion is found in Cj'rus Thomas's 

 Report on the Mound Explorations, ^ but he makes no attempt to 

 explain them. Our first accurate knowledge dates from the in- 

 ception of the Wisconsin Archeologist in 1901. Any attempt to 

 study the archeology of Wisconsin wiU necessarily have to be based 

 on material there published. An extremely useful and suggestive 

 summary of the data has been made by A. B. Stout. This little 

 pamphlet and that on the Koshkonong region ^ by the same author 

 are of prime importance in the study of Winnebago archeology. 



In order to understand the archeology of this region clearly it will 

 be best to say a few words about the regions which were the early 

 habitations of the Wiimebago and the tribes that were their imme- 

 diate neighbors. 



The Winnebago, when first found, were inhabiting the southern 

 shore of Green Bay, Wis. Whether, at this time, they already ex- 

 tended farther south and west, it is impossible to say. The tradi- 



1 Cf. Radin, "Some Aspects of Winnebago Archaeology," Amer. Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 13, no. 4, 1911. 

 Prof. Dixon in his article on "Some Aspects of North jVmerican Archa-ology," Amer. Anthropologist, 



n.s., vol. 15, no. 1, 1913, accepts this conclusion. "Theassociationoftheeffigy mounds of Wisconsin and 

 the adjacent area with the Winnebago or other Siouan tribes seems now reasonably certain, and one might 

 therefore naturally regard the Serpent mound and the lew others of this effigy type in the Ohio Valley as 

 due also to tribes of the same stock," p. 5G1. 



2 Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 47^9, Washington, 1S94. 

 ^•'PrehistoricEarthworksin Wisconsin," Ohio. \rch:rological and Historical Quarterly, vol XX, no. 1, 



Columbus, 1911; and "The \rchaeology ofthe Lake Koshkonong Region," Wisconsin Archeologist, vol. 

 7, no. 2, 1908. 

 76 



