BADIN] 



WIISTNEBAGO ARCHEOLOGY 79 



with the exception of the eastern shore of Green Bay and the Fox 

 River. At the same time they have been discovered in fairly large 

 mmibers in the counties of Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Washington, Wau- 

 kesha, Racine, and Kenosha, which, as far as our historical informa- 

 tion extends, had never been occupied by the Winnebago. Flint 

 arrow points and pottery shards are foimd throughout the entire 

 State. The distribution of copper implements has not yet been 

 thoroughly investigated, but the present status of our laiowledge has 

 been ably discussed by Charles E. Brown.* To judge from the papers 

 of Brown, implements of copper are found pretty generally dis- 

 tributed over the State, although certain objects seem to be found in 

 greater abundance in some places than in others. 



There are three types of mounds in Wisconsin and the territory 

 immediately adjacent to it — tbe efhgy, the linear, and the intaglio. 

 All of these have been subjected to a variety of explanations at» the 

 hands of archeologists, from Lapham's time to our own. The car- 

 dinal error in all their attempts at explanation has perhaps been the 

 assumption that the mounds were necessarily of great antiquity. 

 For a long time it was not considered likely that the present inhabit- 

 ants of the region, the Winnebago or their ancestors, had had any- 

 thing to do with their erection. As soon, however, as systematic 

 inquiries had been made among living Winnebago it was discovered 

 that not only were they able to give more or less reasonable explana- 

 tions of the uses of most of the mounds, but a number of the older 

 people claimed to have distinct recollections of the erection of some 

 of them. In obtaining notes on social organization the writer was 

 told incidentally that it had been customary not very long ago to 

 erect near the habitation of each clan an effigy of their clan animal. 

 Subsequently, upon a more systematic inquiry, it was discovered that 

 not only were such effigy mounds erected near clan habitations, but 

 also on every plantation owned by a certain clan. In other words, 

 these efl&gy mounds were, to all intents and purposes, property marks. 

 Similar effigies are found in the porcupine quillwork, on the war 

 bundles, and on the woven bags still used by the Winnebago m Wis- 

 consin. This interpretation has been so fully corroborated that there 

 can no longer be any possible doubt about it. The age of the mounds 

 thus diminishes considerably. Of coiu-se some may have been erected 

 long ago, but it is quite evident that the effigy mounds found near the 

 Mississippi must have been erected during the eighteenth century, 

 as the Wkmebago did not reach this region before that time. 



In connection wdth the effigy mounds two things need explanation — 

 namely, why there are no mounds of this tj'pe near Red Banks, Green 

 Bay, and why there are so many directly south of this region along 



* "The Native Copper Implements of Wisconsin," in Wisconsin Archeologist, vol. 3, no. 2; and " The 

 Native Copper Ornaments of Wisconsin," ibid., vol. 3, no. 3, 1904. 



