The Lizard Mound (center), from which this park gets its name.
Lizard Mound State Park is a state park in the Town of Farmington, Washington County, Wisconsin near the city of West Bend. The park contains a significant well-preserved effigy mound group, representing one of the largest and best-preserved collections of such mounds in the state. Mounds in the park are the subject of at least two different listings on the National Register of Historic Places, one encompassing the park as a whole, and another which includes a larger set of regional mounds. Established in 1950, the park was acquired by Washington County from the state of Wisconsin in 1986,[2] and was returned to the state in 2021.[3][4] It is now managed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Lizard Mound State Park is located in the Town of Farmington, north of West Bend, Wisconsin on County Trunk "A", one mile east of State Highway 144. Established in 1950, the park was acquired by Washington County from the State of Wisconsin in 1986. The park contains 28 effigy mounds in an excellent state of preservation, reputedly one of the best effigy mound groups remaining in Wisconsin.[5] A self-guided anthropological nature trail winds around the park. Trail markers reveal information about the extinct culture that built the mounds. An unusually beautiful group of mounds, each is of prominent height and careful construction. Most of the mounds rise more than three feet above the ground surface.[6] The variety of mound shapes found in the park is considered unusual. Two are large bird effigy mounds and seven are long-tailed animal forms. These long-tailed effigies are usually referred to as "panther" effigies. One of the 28 mounds is named "Lizard Mound". This mound might have been intended to represent the same animal, whether a panther or something else, but in a spread eagle posture that shows all four limbs.[7]
The Mound Builders lived in Wisconsin and bordering states between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1000. They survived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants. They moved from place to place often. In the summer they could be found closer to rivers and lakes, while in the winter they moved into sheltered upland valleys. They built burial and effigy mounds shaped like mammals, reptiles, birds and other creatures, both real and mythical. They also constructed conical, oval and linear mounds. The effigy mound builders usually buried their dead in small pits or laid them on carefully prepared surfaces. The mounds were then built over them like grave markers. The custom of building effigy burial mounds died out about 1000 years ago; it was a custom unique to the general area. Little else is known about the Mound Builders. Even Indians who lived in Wisconsin when the first white men arrived didn't know why, or by whom, the mounds had been built. According to a sign located inside the park, the mounds were possibly constructed between A.D. 650 and A.D. 1300.
The earliest data concerning the mounds in the area of Lizard Mound State Park was in the form of a sketch map resulting from field investigations made by Professor Julius L. Torney of Milwaukee in 1883. In his sketch of the mound group, Torney illustrated a total of 47 Indian mounds. He also indicated that a number of the earthworks had been destroyed prior to the time that he drew his map. The original group probably consisted of at least 60 mounds, including many of the well known effigy shapes.
Archeological explorations conducted in 1960 revealed that the dead were placed in pits, with the effigy mounds built over the pits. Artifacts such as clay pots, projectile points, pipes, boneharpoons and beads were sometimes placed with the dead. It has been speculated that the shapes of the mounds had a religious or clan significance, but no one knows for sure.
Excavations of Effigy Mound Builders' village sites indicated they lived in small nomadic groups, hunted, fished, gathered fruits and nuts, fashioned tools of stone, wood, bone and copper, made pottery and may have been the first people in Wisconsin to use the bow and arrow.
No other group of mounds in Wisconsin is so well preserved, so diverse in form, or exhibits such outstanding examples of the prehistoric art of mound construction.[citation needed]
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.
Farmington is a town in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,239 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Boltonville, Cheeseville, Fillmore, and Orchard Grove are located in the town. The unincorporated community of Saint Michaels is also located partially in the town.
West Bend is a town in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,834 at the 2000 census. The City of West Bend is located partially within the town. The unincorporated community of Nabob is located in the town.
West Bend is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,752. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.
Petroforms, also known as boulder outlines or boulder mosaics, are human-made shapes and patterns made by lining up large rocks on the open ground, often on quite level areas. Petroforms in North America were originally made by various Native American and First Nation tribes, who used various terms to describe them. Petroforms can also include a rock cairn or inukshuk, an upright monolith slab, a medicine wheel, a fire pit, a desert kite, sculpted boulders, or simply rocks lined up or stacked for various reasons. Old World petroforms include the Carnac stones and many other megalithic monuments.
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation, ceremonial, burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes.
The Kolomoki Mounds is one of the largest and earliest Woodland period earthwork mound complexes in the Southeastern United States and is the largest in Georgia. Constructed from 350 to 600, the mound complex is located in southwest Georgia, in present-day Early County near the Chattahoochee River.
The Wisconsin State Fair Park is a fairgrounds and exhibition center in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. It has been the location of the Wisconsin State Fair since 1892. The fairgrounds are open year-round, hosting various expositions.
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.
Whitewater Effigy Mounds Preserve is a park operated by the city of Whitewater, Wisconsin. The 21.5-acre park is located on the west side of the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
The Alligator Effigy Mound is an effigy mound in Granville, Ohio, United States. The mound is believed to have been built between AD 800 and 1200 by people of the Fort Ancient culture. The mound was likely a ceremonial site, as it was not used for burials.
High Cliff State Park is a 1,187-acre (480 ha) Wisconsin state park near Sherwood, Wisconsin. It is the only state-owned recreation area located on Lake Winnebago. The park got its name from cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, a land formation east of the shore of Lake Winnebago that stretches north through northeast Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, and Ontario to Niagara Falls and New York State.
Rock Eagle Effigy Mound is an archaeological site in Putnam County, Georgia, U.S. estimated to have been constructed c. 1000 BC to AD 1000. The earthwork was built up of thousands of pieces of quartzite laid in the mounded shape of a large bird. Although it is most often referred to as an eagle, scholars do not know exactly what type of bird the original builders intended to portray. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) because of its significance. The University of Georgia administers the site. It uses much of the adjoining land for a 4-H camp, with cottages and other buildings, and day and residential environmental education.
Cranberry Creek Archeological District, also known as Cranberry Creek Mound Group, is an ancient American Indian burial mound site from circa AD 100–800 near New Miner, Wisconsin, United States. It is three miles east of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Juneau County. It is part of the "effigy mound culture" of native peoples in Wisconsin, who practiced the "respectful burial of their dead".
The Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound is a ground depression in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. The effigy is a reverse mound: a depression in the shape of a panther or water spirit created by Native Americans before the arrival of settlers. In the mid-1800s ten of these reverse effigy mounds were found in Wisconsin, but all except this one have been destroyed. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Gee's Slough Group of Indian Mounds, located along the Lemonweir River just outside of New Lisbon, Wisconsin, is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. The New Lisbon area was a winter gathering place for the Woodland Culture Indians who are considered the ancestors to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) tribe.
The Man Mound is a precontact earthwork of a humanoid figure located in Greenfield, Sauk County, Wisconsin, east of the city of Baraboo. Constructed during the Late Woodland period, the mound is the only surviving anthropomorphic effigy mound in North America. The mound depicts a humanoid figure with horns or a horned headdress and may have held religious or ceremonial significance to its builders. The mound was preserved as a county park in 1908, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016.
Vilas Circle Bear Effigy Mound and the Curtis Mounds are a group of Native American mounds in Madison, Wisconsin. The Bear Effigy Mound is in the public Bear Mound Park, while the Curtis Mounds are on a neighboring residential property. As its name indicates, the Bear Effigy Mound is in the shape of a bear, and is intact except for a section of the bear's leg. The Curtis Mounds were seven linear mounds running down the hill and several conical mounds. Now only parts of one or two linear mounds remain, on private property.
The Elmside Park Mounds are a group of Native American mounds in Elmside Park in Madison, Wisconsin. The group includes two animal-shaped effigy mounds; while their shapes are inconclusive, they have been described as a lynx and a bear. The mounds were once part of the Oakridge Mound Group, which included three other mounds, but the others were destroyed by home construction. Mound Builder peoples built the mounds in the Late Woodland period, likely between 800 and 1100 A.D., to serve as burial and ceremonial sites. The mounds may be the only remnant of a Late Woodland community on the northeast shore of Lake Monona and are archaeologically significant in the study of Late Woodland civilizations.
The Mills Woods Mound, also known as the Hudson Park Mound, is a Native American mound in Hudson Park in Madison, Wisconsin. It is an animal-shaped effigy mound with a long tail, though the exact animal it represents is unclear. The mound was once part of the large Mills Woods Mound Group, which included roughly thirty mounds of various shapes, but construction destroyed every other mound in the group. The mound group was built during the Late Woodland period, roughly between 800 and 1100 A.D., by a Mound Builder group; the Mound Builders used mounds for burials and ceremonial purposes. The mound is one of less than 60 effigy mounds remaining in Dane County, which once had 289 of the mounds, and has potential archaeological significance for the study of Late Woodland civilizations.
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