(From the Effigy Mounds Preservation Initiative Face Book
Group)
(Christopher Veit Photo)
Kurt Sampson (writes): “What is really known of these rock
"cairns" ?? Has one ever been excavated or explored to determine
this?”
Michelle Birnbaum: “Talk to Ron Schirmer - he has a grad
student working his dissertation on cairns near Red Wing.”
Kurt Sampson “That's where this photo came from. Christopher
Veit, what's the deal with these???
Michelle Birnbaum: They are not burials. Near Red Wing they
are one hill tops and may be group or territorial marker.”
Jimmy Clark: Seems we saw a few during the Great River Road
Survey with John Penman in 1981-82 while locating mounds and sites. Check
annual highway archaeology reports 1980 and after. And look through Orr's stack
of field notes. The bluffs weren't wooded until cessation of fires.
Ron Schirmer: “There are a few different types of rock-based
monuments. This particular one is a form apparently unique to Red Wing.”
Christopher Veit: “This monument is not visible from the
valley floor, and not because of the trees. It is hidden from view from they
valley floor by the crest of the slope, I doubt that was coincidental. I do not
belive this monument's primary purpose is as a territorial marker. I'll kindly
defer to Dr. Ron Schirmer in this matter.”
Ron Schirmer (responds): “Now I'm on a computer and can
address this further. The pictured monument is the only one that remains
unmolested. Originally it was a hollow structure, but it has collapsed. All
other known examples of this type were pulled apart between 1840 and 1880 to
look for "Indian relics". Single wooden posts (one of eastern red
cedar and one of oak) were found in separate ones, and one yielded "a
shank bone" without further description. None have ever been scientifically
studied. They are definitely not for burials, though they are clearly sacred
structures. When standing, they would have varied between 6 and 8 feet tall,
making them visible from the villages on the adjacent valley floors. And
indeed, a viewshed analysis shows that almost all of this particular type of
structure were within clear lines of sight of each other, and very much
clustered around a series of Oneota villages in the Spring Creek valley. Two
weeks ago I got the first AMS date from one of the villages - A.D. 1330.
Contrary to popular (and uninformed) belief, Red Wing was NOT abandoned after
the Silvernale phase, but instead continued to host a large population of
Bartron phase Oneota peoples well into the 14th century, contemporary with the early
parts of both the LaCrosse and Blue Earth Oneota regions.”
Todd J Stein: “Interesting - I wonder if these stone cairns
are related in function to the "ghost" or "spirit" houses
created out of wood by the Odawa people in Northern lower Michigan. They looked
very much like copies of longhouses (although they were constructed out of any
old wood or boards washed up on shore) with a peaked roof over the entrance on
one end. In height and length they looked to be about the size of a man,
although no burials or remains were associated with them. Up until a few years
ago there was a large number of them on North Manitou Island. When last I saw
them most were decayed &/or in a state of serious disrepair, although a few
of them seem to have been maintained until fairly recently.”
Ron Schirmer: “Interestingly, Todd, they do seem to be
related to Ioway tradition spirit lodges, which I would assume to be
functionally equivalent.”
Kurt Sampson on mounds in the Sacred Ground Documentary
Series:
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