Effigy Mounds and Lasaux Cave

Upon reading the blog question for this week, I decided to look up some photos of effigy mounds. I came across a web page that quotes Robert Birmingham the author of our book, Indian Mounds of Wisconsin. It may be helpful for those of you who read this blog so here is the link:

http://whyfiles.org/135salv_arch/3.html

In the question we are asked to talk about the 'form' of the mounds, a confusing word choice I must admit so I am going to talk about forms in the sense of an artistic media. The effigy mounds are burial sites in the form of important animal figures where as Lascaux Cave contains paintings of large animals in a seemingly personal cave. The two medias are different forms of representations of related ideas, although to create the effigy mounds a group of people are needed. The simple fact that the effigy mounds have been thought to bring different tribes of people together suggests a ritualistic and spiritual gathering. This, combined with the burial of humans and materials, is (in my mind) undoubtedly religious. There was confusion and ambiguity in the Lascaux cave on whether the paintings were religious; contrastingly, the effigy mounds strongly suggest religious gatherings to create forms (or symbols) which are worshiped.

The mounds are absolutely different than the use of animals in sports teams today. We do not worship the Chicago Bear and expect to gain something in the afterlife. The suggested religious significance of the mounds as a symbol which establishes a conception of death and purpose cannot be compared to a sports team.