Petroform-Mound Linkage in East Central Wisconsin

Over the past few years, the common associations between petroforms and earthen mounds reported by such early recorders as T.H. Lewis are being confirmed in Wisconsin. The central problem in the search for these associations has been the large scale destruction by land clearing and cultivation in the late 19th Century. In a few cases, however, remnants of these "associations," whether contemporary or not, is coming to light (Callahan 1999:3 Ruebelmann 1988:191). Extensive work in Fond du Lac and Dodge counties beginning in the 1980's, provided strong hints to empirically defensible associations, often strengthened by archaeoastronomy (Bender 1992:2). More recently, in Marquette County, containing dense and highly visible ethnohistoric populations of Winnebago and Menominee, several cases have become known. While extremely rich in both prehistoric and ethnohistoric culture, Marquette County, very central and influenced by the Fox River, has had sparse archaeological attention; and that somewhat specialized.

_{Figure 3. Mecan-Shields Petroform, Marquette county, Wisconsin. View to north. Photo 1998.}

In 1998 and 1999, three major petroform concentrations were identified in the Towns of Mecan and Shields in the northern part of Marquette County. The first to be located lies just inside the Town of Mecan line where it intersects with Eagle Road (Fig's. 1 and 3). It was spotted from the road during an unusually warm early spring -exposed by melting, and not yet obscured by vegetation. It consists of a line of boulders laid out on an approximate north orientation, with piling near its north end, and at least two linear extensions. It is some 50 feet in length, with the extensions about 15 feet long (oriented east-west). The boulders vary in size from about 10" in diameter to quite large specimens up to 24" in diameter and weighing perhaps a half ton each. Most of these boulders are singly spaced. They occur 100 feet from the closest cleared land and are in an oak-hickory grove, with trees well over 100 years old. There are no other boulders in the area. While the feature is clearly a structured petroform, its significance is intensified by the presence of a newly discovered (1999) effigy mound 1 1/2 miles west (Fig. 4). It is very similar to a Waupaca County petroform recorded by Dr. Jeff Behm, P. J. Schoebel, and Hugh Mays in Sept 1990 (Fig. 2).

_{Figure 2. Waupaca County petroform recorded by Behm, Schoebel, and Mays - 1990.}

_{Figure 4. East view of Germania serpent mound. Trees growing in it are oaks exceeding 100 years in age. Photo 1999. This effigy mound lies equidistant between two major petroform sites in Marquette County, Wisconsin.}

The effigy mound, again discovered in the early spring, is a serpent mound 100 yards long with the bends consistent with the major solar orientations (mid-summer sunrise, mid-winter sunrise, and the corresponding sunsets). A bush road crosses it, and its eastern end may have been damaged by dredging a small creek. An "official" snowmobile trail crossed it during the 1999-2000 winter.

_{Figure 5. Petroform discovered on a high, wooded crest in Marquette County, Wisconsin. This is the western most of the two located 30 meters apart. View to west.}

Less than two miles to the northwest, at the crest of a considerable prominence lie two very large and complex petroforms. again containing both lines and piling (Fig. 5). They are about 100 feet apart, in dense forest. Underbrush has been removed for the purpose of mapping, but this is not complete. The features are on land owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The overall cluster of these features is within the Mecan River drainage, a significant regional tributary of the Fox River, suggesting that they may be ceremonial sites purposely sited to be remote from the intensity of domestic life along the Fox.

There is another attribute of most of these sites, identified earlier in Fond du Lac County. This is the extensive aboriginal use of prominences for ceremonial purposes (Steinbring 2000:4). These prominences serve also as markers in cross country travel, one being visible to the next, a commonplace practice in early historic times. Known trails follow this pattern and free flowing springs are commonly located below the prominences along these routes. Such is the case for the current findings in Marquette County and the rest of east central Wisconsin.

_{Figure 6. Solidly pecked and heavily weathered petroglyph at the summit of Observatory Hill, Marquette County, Wisconsin. Triangle with "x" is a recent elevation mark. It appears to have been made across an extremely weathered petroglyph. The larger petroglyph appears to be an "anthropomorphic thunderbird," It has wing-like appendages and three-toed feet. Photo 1999.}

At least one petroglyph site may also figure in this pattern. A greatly eroded, solidly pecked petroglyph at the summit of Observatory Hill (the highest point in Marquette County) was discovered in 1999 (Figures 6,7 and 8). This specimen exhibits minute pecking, and most resembles those identified within early Archaic iconic traditions. An intermediate hill, also of exceptional prominence contains aboriginal (and white) graves. A line from the petroform site in Figure 5 passes exactly through it to bisect the summit of Observatory Hill. The Observatory Hill petroglyph is similar to one reported from Washington State Park in Missouri (Allan 2000:9).

_{Figure 7. Observatory Hill, viewed from the north, 1999. Hill is a monadknock of rhyolite porphyry.}

_{Figure 8. View to south from summit of Observatory Hill, Marquette County, Wisconsin. Petroglyph is in immediate foreground. Vista ranges from 20 - 40 miles depending on weather.}

Evidence is growing rapidly that this correspondence of mounds, petroforms, trails, and other ceremonial or ritual features, has probably been ignored because petroforms are the most fragile and susceptible to removal, and because associated mounds have been destroyed by cultivation (Behm 1990:107). There is a potential in this slowly emerging pattern of a very large scale and sophisticated system of cultural exploitation. It is uniquely suited to the archaeology of landscape.

Petroform-Mound Linkage in East Central Wisconsin

Jack Steinbring

Herman Bender