The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal (Classic Reprint)

Toi.. m. 1880. No. I. THF EMBLEMATIC MOUNDS, AND THE TOTEM SYSTEM OF fHE INDIAN TRIBES. rBT HBV. STEPHEN TL rEET. It ia well known that the State of Wbconsin abounds with a certain class of earth-works which have generally been called by the expresei Tename of emblematic or effigy mounds. The peculiarity of these structures ia that they resemble the forms of various wild animals, and though often massive in their dimeosions, still perpetuate in their outlines complete figures of the ureatnrea which once constituted the fauna of this region. Xo other State so abounds in these emblematic structures, niere are many other earth-works scattered throughout the whole valley of the Mississippi. A mong them five or six classes have been di Btingnished, all of them naving characteristics of their own, and each class being peculiar to a certain geographical section. For instance, in the State of Ohio there is a great system of earth-works which presents all the characteristics of religious or sacred structures, such as pyramids, altars and sacred enclosures, parallel walls and graded ways. In Illinois and Indiana there are also found earth-works of various kinds, the tumulus, or the burial mound, being the commonest type. In the State of New York, in Northern Ohio and in some parts of Michigan, there are found military works, such as the circular enclosure, with it wall and ditch, and, occasionally, the traces of palisades and other defenses, so that we say that the military is the type peculiar to these localities. In the States of Georgia and Mississippi there are many massive pyramids which are generally regarded as distinctive. But in the State of Wisconsin the works, which are peculiar to the soil and distinctive of the locality, are the emblematic mounds.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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