The Gilman Mounds

The Gilman Mounds. . , Gilman Mound Group , The Gilman group has two mounds: one linear, and the other resembling a mink. Both are probably related to nearby Nine Springs Creek. Minks live around streams, marshes, and lakes, and snake-shaped linear mounds are often found around water. Each mound has been shortened by farming: the south end of the linear mound and east end of the mink-like mound have been cut off by cultivation. Drumlins like this often have multiple mounds across their slopes, so it's possible the Gilman mound group used to be larger. Perhaps, as shown here, additional mounds stood above on the ridgetop, which has been heavily farmed., End of a Monumental World , Mound building ended fairly suddenly around AD 1200. At the same time, corn agriculture became the dominant way of life in the Midwest. Possibly effigy bulders [sic] replaced the ritual of creating mounds with corn harvest or earth fertility ceremonies., Winfield Gilman and Gilman Mounds , Many mound groups are named after property owners at the time the mounds were surveyed. Winfield Gilman was an exception. He was a prominent lawyer and freemason in Madison, and avid collector of archaeological objects. He began a friendship with Charles Brown in 1900 when Brown inquired about a stone axe Gilman had. In 1904, Brown moved to Madison to become state historical society museum director. Together in 1913 they visited the linear mound, where Brown made a sketch and field report. For reasons we don't understand, he did not mention a second mound., Ho-Chunk Visitors , Brown reported the linear mound was a "quarter-mile west of the Nobpf place at the mouth of the creek." The Nobbs family lived for many decades on Lake Farm Road. Ho-Chunks often visited them to trade hides for salt pork and bread, and a man named White Rabbit trapped muskrats in Nine Springs Creek near the Nobbs farmhouse. Northeast of here, on both sides of the creek, are ancient camp and workshop sites. Fred Nobbs found many artifacts and sold them to visitors and tourists staying at Lake Waubesa resorts., More than a thousand effigy mounds once surrounded Madison's lakes., Lake Waubesa and the Nine Springs area has attracted people for 12,000 years., Image credits Top center Charles Brown Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. Above Courtesy of Gary Tipler. Below Kerry Hill., What Do Mound Shapes Mean?, Lower World , Mounds of long-tailed water spirits often appear to enter or leave water, and may be located near springs, wetlands, and lakeshores. They're widespread around low-lying lakes and marshes between Madison and Milwaukee., Middle World , The middle world of earth contains bears, deer, and many other mammals. Mounds in the shape of animals or other beings are called effigies. Sometimes it's difficult to identify the exact animal., Upper World , Powerful falcons, geese, and eagles inhabit the upper sky world of the effigy-builder universe. In the Madison area, raptors and geese are often found on ridge tops., Conical and Linear , Conical mounds are the most common mound type, and the oldest. They may represent the sun or moon. Linear mounds are numerous, may or may not taper, and can be hundreds of feet long. Linears may symbolize snakes., Waubesa Mounds , In 1914, William McLachlan recorded 188 mounds around Lake Waubesa, arranged in 42 groups.