Effigy Mounds

The Effigy Mounds built in the Late Woodland Period are a good example of Geertz's definition of religion. The mounds are part of a system of symbols that influences thoughts and behavior and provides the Native Americans with explanations and ideas about their world. First we can prove that the effigy mounds are not shaped because it is more aesthetically pleasing, but that they are in fact symbolic. This is shown by the connection between the shapes of the mounds and the pictures found on pottery and the repetition of those pictures both on pottery and in the form of mounds. It is also clear that the ideas symbolized affect the peoples actions, for example in the building of the mounds or the rituals and ceremonies of the people that center around the mounds. Finally the mounds and their symbols give an order of existence or division of the world. This can be seen by the locations of the mounds. The world is divided into three parts the Upperworld and the Lowerworld of water and earth. The symbols for the upperworld are birds, the water are panthers, turtles, and lizards, and the earth are most commonly bears or buffalo. Mounds in these forms are built where their world is meaning upperworld symbols are built on hills or higher elevations, water symbols are built close to the water and the earth symbols are in the land in between the water and upperworld symbols. The locations of the effigy mounds reinforce that order of existence.