Vilas Park Mound Group

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Vilas Park Mound Group
Vilas Park Mound Group.jpg
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LocationVilas Park, Madison, Wisconsin
Coordinates 43°03′34″N89°24′29″W / 43.05944°N 89.40806°W / 43.05944; -89.40806 Coordinates: 43°03′34″N89°24′29″W / 43.05944°N 89.40806°W / 43.05944; -89.40806
Arealess than one acre
MPS Late Woodland Stage in Archeological Region 8 MPS
NRHP reference No. 91000357 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 10, 1991

The Vilas Park Mound Group is a group of Native American mounds in Vilas Park in Madison, Wisconsin. The group includes a bird effigy, a linear mound, and six conical mounds. It originally included another bird effigy and two additional conical mounds, but development destroyed these mounds and damaged two of the existing ones. [2] [3]

Mound Builder peoples built the mounds between 800 and 1100 A.D., during the Late Woodland period, to serve as burial and cultural sites. While the Madison area was once home to over 1,000 mounds, all but roughly 200 have been destroyed, making the Vilas Park group more significant as a potential source of information about Late Woodland traditions. [4]

The mounds were added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 10, 1991. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. Birmingham, Robert A. (2010). Spirits of Earth: The Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the Four Lakes. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 210. ISBN   978-0-299-23264-1.
  3. Khitsun, Andrew. "Vilas Park Mounds". Wisconsin Mounds. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
  4. Birmingham, Robert A.; Rankin, Katherine H. (March 13, 1990). "Landmarks and Landmark Sites Nomination Form: Vilas Park Mound Group" (PDF). City of Madison Landmarks Commission. Retrieved November 23, 2020.