More mounds were built by ancient Native American societies in Wisconsin than in any other region of North America -- between 15,000 and 20,000 mounds, at least 4,000 of which remain today. Most impressive are the effigy mounds, huge earthworks sculpted into the shapes of birds, animals, and other forms, not found anywhere else in the world in such concentrations. This book, written for general readers but incorporating the most recent research, offers a comprehensive overview of these intriguing earthworks and answers the questions, Who built the mounds? When and why were they built?Using evidence drawn from archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, linguistics, and the traditions and beliefs of present-day Native Americans in the Midwest, archaeologists Birmingham and Eisenberg offer an important new interpretation of the effigy mound groups as "cosmological maps" that model ancient belief systems and social relations. Although the archaeological record indicates that most ancient Native American societies in the upper Midwest built mounds between about 800 B.C. and A.D. 1200, the effigy mounds bear such similarity to the beliefs and clan structures of the Ho-Chunk, Ioway, and closely related nations that it is extremely likely that these people are descendants of the effigy mound builders.

Indian Mounds of Wisconsin includes a travel guide to sites in Wisconsin that can be visited by the public, including many in state, county, and local parks.