The Iowa Bear Moundsand

The Invisible Serpent

Clifford C. RicheyJuly 2010

This paper has been broken out of an earlier paper because the title (The Hole in the Fairfield Gorget) did not reflect the content about effigy mounds. People interested in the mounds could have difficulty finding this information.

In reading this paper it might be helpful to keep in mind what the Popul Vuh said in terms of the place of the Serpent in the Mayan cosmology..

A literal translation of the Popul Vuh1 provides us with some insight into the cosmology of the after-life. Comments in parentheses are this writer's.

The Cucumatz came to be. (The male side of the male and female creator pair of the earth.) One transformation he would rise up to sky, One transformation therefore he would go to do down to Xibalba; (The Unseen Place, The Underworld) One transformation again therefore he would transform to serpent, (A current or river of water) Truly then serpent he would come to be; One transformation again as well he would do as eagle, (The day-time sun) One transformation again as jaguar, (The night-time sun) Truly then eagle, Then jaguar his appearance he would come to be; One transformation again he would pool as blood, (Water—the blood of earth-woman) Alone pooled blood he would come to be. (Pooled water on the earth's surface) Truly then enchanted Lord his essence. (His spirit, the essence of the deceased) The sign for Transformation2 is an “X” shaped sign meaning, trade, exchange, or transformation depending on context.

Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa is a complex assortment of earthen mounds in a variety of shapes. It is most famous for the imagery of Bears that appear to be marching up a hillside near the Mississippi River. In the 1800s Ellison Orr (an engineer who, in retirement, surveyed a great many mound sites) made a topographic map of the Chantry Hollow area. The area is comprised of a few hills and a small valley which can be viewed from a nearby rise.

In 1974, R. Clark Mallam, and staff from the Luther College Archaeological Research Center began an aerial survey of regional effigy mounds in an effort to document the mounds. Mallam had lime placed around each mound so that they could be clearly photographed from the air. It is not not sure if the Chantry Hollow was included in the above but there is a topographical map made by Ellison Orr from which the following illustration was derived. Here is a rough sketch of the Chantry Hollow site and the meaning of the signs as they are arranged according to their compositional elements.

1 Christensen, Allen J. Popo Vuh: Literal Translation, Mesoweb Publications 2 Tomkins, p. 26-27 and p. 90

The Mounds:

A hill with five circular mounds on its side. Another hill with a mound depicting a Bird flying. Below the hills is a line of mounds that is comprised of Four Bear mounds., a Bar shaped mound, and a mound in the shape of a Bird.

The Circular Mounds: Each mound is based on the tip of a finger and indicated the number one (1). There are five mounds so the count is five (5). The total Form of the mounds (the pattern they form) is that of a single Bear.

The Bird Mound: The Bird is viewed as flying and its position on the hill adds to that perspective. The Head of the Bird is the sign for “location”, the Body (rectangle) is the sign for “place” and the Wings are fingers pointing “above and “below.” The Form is a triangle, the sign for “earth-female.” The form of the triangle has a curve on one side. The meaning of the curve may mean Turning Female meaning the Flight is toward Female-Earth or Earth-Woman. The Line of Bears Mounds:

Illustration 1: Chantry Hollow Mound Site

There are Four Bears in a line. Each Bear is in the Form of a Place Sign. Reversing the Bear imagery results in the Form of a Hand. The Form of the Bar is phallic imagery meaning Male.

The Bar Shaped Mound

The Leaning Bar (its Stance) mound is made up of the sign for Place and the rounded top part is the sign for Cave. The Bar's Stance indicates Waiting. Its overall Form means Male.

The Bird (on the ground)

The Form of the Bird is one of a Triangle. The triangle sign is the sign for Female (in this site the sign is upside down –pointing upward). The Bird imagery is the sign for Flight. The body of the Bird is made up of a rectangle (Place) and a circle Location. The wings are Fingers pointing downward indicating direction. The top of the wings form a Line which means the ground Surface. Four Place(s) of Flight, Location Surface Below. In effect we have a “Bear” that is higher than the other mounds below the hillside. The Bear Form is facing backward toward the line of Bears. This is as we shall see, an important detail. This Bear contains the number five (five circular mounds -think in terms of counting finger tips)

The Fifth Bear

Below we have the Four Bears. Each Bear has the additional Form of an Rounded Rectangle which is the sign for Turning Place. The heads of the Bears are made from a small “U” shaped sign and the bodies are made from the a larger “U” shaped sign meaning Turning. Looking at the bears in reverse seems to show imagery of a Hand which probably is the sign for Held Down.

So, starting with the Bird imagery we have the message, “Above Earth -Female-Location-Place on the Surface-(where) Flight is Downward. The line of Four bears Form is a Finger pointing out a Direction. Next we have the Places of the Four Bears Awaiting the Downward Flight. A Male-Cave Place This direction is at the base of the hill where Five Bear will descend. Thus one is awaiting the downward flight of the Fifth Bear.

One has to look to the sky to find the Fifth Bear. Matching imagery was found for the Fifth Bear in the constellation Canis Major (Big Dog). The movement of Canis Major was found to match that indicated by the mound bear. This was tested out at the Arizona State University Planetarium. Up to 900 years ago Canis Major would appear to be flying backwards over the hill and “land” down in front of the line of four bears. It is in this area that the Fifth Bear is counted as descended. As we have noted before the male and female references probably relates to the Native American belief that the Sky was Male and the Earth was Female (Earth-Female or Earth-Woman). Apparently the bears in the Sky descended into the earth, the Cave Place wherein they turned around and rose once again into the sky from beneath Earth-Woman.

It appears that the mounds perform a count involving the bears.. Chantry Hollow is only one of many sites related to bears. The first site is of a single bear above a rock ledge. This site reads “One Bear Arises.” This site will be described in greater detail later.

Photo Credit: National Park Service Negative Number 2087

As mentioned earlier Clark Mallam had lime placed around the effigy mounds in order that they could be photographed clearly from the air. Had this not been done it would have been difficult to discern that the mounds were actually glyphs and that the various sites related to one another. The mound sites are far from one another, actually measured in miles, which is another reason one might not expect that they are related to one another. As far as is known there are no accurate topographical maps available that would provide us with an overview of all the individual sites. By viewing individual photographs there appear to be twenty or more such sites. There is great need for accurate aerial maps of these sites as well as a need for archaeo-astronomers to apply their expertise to them.

Illustration 2: Illustration 2: Marching Bears Mounds (South Unit)

The above photograph has been inverted so that the imagery can be better observed. The Imagery is also outlined in red so that the Form of the mounds can be seen. All of the animal mounds found in the Monument are only those of Bears and Birds. It would be difficult to determine the meaning of the mounds if that was all that could be seen. If one was not aware that glyphs involve Form as well as Imagery it is doubtful that anyone would perceive the Serpent and other animal imagery found in them. The Form can be visualized as one in which a Serpent is rising up and eating something. Beginning with the Serpent's Form we have the Message:

The Serpent, The River, Rises Up and Eats The Land We will begin our interpretation of this site with the imagery of the Birds in the tail of the Serpent. The Bird imagery was placed far enough from the Bear imagery that they have a sub-Form all their own. In this case a rectangle that indicates Place. The Bird imagery can be further broken down into a Directional Finger pointing a direction, and a Circle which Forms the Head of the Serpent. This Circle means, the location.

The first eight Bears appear to be generally the same. What differences that can be discerned may possibly be accounted for by erosion over the centuries that the mounds have been exposed to the weather. The Bear from another viewpoint the imagery is that of Hands. Such dual imagery is often found in glyphs as it probably saved composing time and space. It is most likely that it is the Hands of

Illustration 3: The Form of the Marching Bears

the Serpent that are meant. These Hands are in the position used to make the digging sign. Thus the Serpent is, in effect, digging up Bears.

The Serpents Head is the sign (a Circle) for a location and next to it is a Straight Line meaning the land's surface. Next the Bear's make up the Form of a Finger pointing in a downward direction (the Bear Imagery is also facing downwards. Finally we have the Rectangular Form created by the outlines of the Birds meaning, place.

Illustration 4: Serpent Forms Broken Into Sub-Forms

As usual it is the Imagery level that provides us with the most of the message content. The Two Ovals next to the Head of the Serpent are dual imagery and also indicate numbers and are valued at Five each. Thus we have the number Ten. If we count the Bears within the Serpent Imagery we find there are also Ten. So we understand that the Serpent has devoured Ten Bears. The Head, or rather the Face profile of the Serpent is made up from the Hand signs for Eat3, by the hands shown at the position of the Mouth. There is a thin upside down Bear at the top of the Serpent's Head. This means the Bear is Dead4. But the dual imagery is also that of an Arm and Hand with the Hand formed of the Opening Up sign5. In other words, Released. Next the Hand is in the Stance making a Throw Away sign. This followed by a Bird (Flying) whose Body is made up of a Bone sign. Below is the Form of the Finger pointing Downwards and the Bears internal to the Form are also headed Downward. The Two Birds (Two Flights) can be further broken down into location (Heads), place (Body) and Fingers (Wings) pointing out the direction of flights.

We can now understand the general meaning of these glyphs. It is a story about a Great Serpent (River or Stream) rising up upon the land (flood stage). It is digging up Bears, while eating away at the land (erosion). It finds the Dead Bears and throws their Bones Away Flying. Because the Bears

3 Tomkins, to eat p 26-274 Tomkins, dead p. 81 5 Context

Illustration 5: Imagery Level of the Serpent Form

are internal to the Serpent Form (its stomach) we know that all Ten of them have been Devoured by the Serpent. Just in case there is any doubt about this, the oval mounds each represent the number Five. The Maya used narrow rectangles for the number five and circle for the number one. This appears to be a form of shorthand as all the five fingertips form a narrow rectangle. The rounded corners are, possibly, accounted for by the idea that the Form is one of a place rectangle combined with the “U” shaped signs for turning6. Thus the places that the Serpent dug up were the Turning- Places of the Bears Turning above in the sky and then turning around beneath the earth..

Perhaps at some time in the distant past the nearby Mississippi River did indeed rise up and erode away the burials of the Bear Clan or People. Their bones were thus washed away down the river that led to the edge of the earth and to the Underworld.

But What about the Two Birds? Well, the two Birds mean that two things are flying and the only two things mentioned in the glyph are the Serpent and the Bears.

So we have to look for patterns in the sky that would match the imagery of the mounds. We have already learned, in the previous paper, That the Bear was a constellation that landed in front of a line of four bear mounds. So we already know what the Bear constellation looked like. Today it is called Canis Major (The Big Dog). Can we find a constellation that would match the Serpent? Yes, the constellation Hydra is a good match and not only that, the behavior of the two constellation matches that described in the glyphs. If one stands on the bluff near the head of the Serpent Form one could look out over the the horizon.

There the two constellations can be viewed in the southwest ...the same alignment as the Serpent form. From here one could see Canis Major moving backwards near the horizon while Hydra moves downward toward it. Just as Hydra appears to catch up with Canis Major, Canis Major disappears beneath the horizon. One might imagine that The Serpent devoured the Bear.

Metaphorically, the Bones of the Bears may have been described as the “skeletons” of the Bears – the constellations. In a sense what happened on earth was replayed by events in the sky.

The unspoken meaning behind the metaphor is one that would not have been lost on the people of the Bear. The bear enters its cave in the fall and appears as if dead while in hibernation. In the Springtime, the Bear would appear to arise from the dead and leave its cave. This might well be the time when the first Bear arising over the horizon can be viewed from the site of the One Bear Mound site. We can now easily understand why this site was of significance to the People of the Bear. It was a cosmological metaphor about their own death and resurrection.

One might think that this is the end of the glyph's message, But the composers of these glyphs were masters at compressing information into them. There is even a sign for compression. It is made by cupping both hands as if making a snowball or a ball of mud. Then each hand slightly passes the other. The end result, in written sign language, looks like two overlapping parentheses.

“Ak Kin, He of the Sun, It is he who looks into them.” That is what the Maya said when speaking of the glyphs. Indeed, He did look into them. As we have seen we start with the Outer Form, look for sub-patterns, and then into the signs that make up of much of the imagery.

6 Context

The Serpent Devours Ten Direction Upward Digging Bears Digging Bears Digging Bears Digging Bears Digging Bears

His Face, He Appears Eating Bears Eating Bears

He Breaks Apart the Land's Surface The Dead Bear He Releases

He Throws Away the Bear The Bone(s)

Flying The Bears Going Down

Below The Place

of The Two Flights

Direction Southwest The One Straight the One Downward

The Sky Serpent Descends The Place of The Two Flights (direction, in the southwest) One moving Downward The One moving Straight Direction Downward The Bears Location Her Face, Earth-Woman Broken The Turning Places of the Ten (Bears)

Illustration 6: Viewed As Looking Downward from the Bluff

It is interesting that this glyph was placed on a bluff and below where the sign for Broken Earth were placed is a large Depression in the ground. It would appear the the local topography was incorporated into the glyph. Also one could use the two oval mounds almost like a gun sight to look in the proper direction to see the interaction between the two constellations.

The rest of the translation is essentially a repeat of the River-Serpent content. Apparently events on earth were seen as mirrored in the sky. It may have been visualized as the river carrying off the bones off to the underworld where they arise again as “skeletons” of their former selves. The skeletons being the constellations now known as Hydra (the Serpent) and Canis Major (the Bear). The above interaction of the two constellations was verified as described in the glyphs for about 900 years ago. The event can be seen in the southwest as Canis Major making its way, backwards, across the horizon while the Hydra approaches from above and appears to catch up with the Bear. Just as the Hydra is about to catch up with Canis Major, Canis major disappears beneath the horizon as if devoured.

The Various sites carry the count up to, at least twenty bears. Canis Major can not be observed from April to June due to the location of the sun. The count would have probably begun in June at the One Bear Arises site. Because it is not a complete yearly calendar it would seem that the count related to some kind of ritual marker. The Bears may have been Shamans but, more likely, related to a Bear Clan that used the calendar for cosmological purposes. The individual bear mound sites are many miles apart so someone might have had to walk the calendar verifying the count. The mounds sites described above are only two of a multitude of mounds involving Bears. The count of bears devoured appears to be twenty but there may be more. The count begins at the One Bear mound site.

The Stance of the bear mound at the One Bear site is the angle of the bear imagery as related to the natural ledge found below it. This ledge was incorporated into the composition and, essentially, serves as a Land Surface sign. While Tomkins states this sign is the sign for Prairie it probably served as the sign for any flat broad surface. The Form is the pattern of a Finger created from the Stance while the Imagery is that of the Bear and the Ledge. From this simple glyph we can see the basics of how sign language was transformed into a written system of composition which could even be applied to material such as earth. The totality of the mounds seems to have been a gigantic calendar stretched across the land. Because the constellations cannot be seen all year round (due to the position of the sun) the calendar was probably ritualistic in nature and involved the Bear Clan or a social group related to Bears. The struggle between the Bear and the Serpent is not far removed from the struggle seen between the Serpent and the Jaguar of Central and South America. The concept is the same cosmology of death and resurrection.

Illustration 7 is based on William Tomkins' illustrations of signs. Many readers will note that one can be distracted by the hands in the illustrations and not really see that it is the Form that is important.

Illustration 7: One Bear Mound Site and Translation

Although the rules we have uncovered assist us in reading the glyphs are helpful, they may not be the exact rules used by the Native American composers. At this point in time these rules should be considered as a rule of thumb. There is much more to be learned about the composition of Native American glyphs. This field is wide open for study and the contributions of anthropologists, archaeologists, and archaeo-astronomers, whose knowledge about the details of the various ancient culture's will lead to a greater understanding of not only glyph composition but greater insights into the thinking of a people who lived in prehistoric times. As information about each sign's meaning becomes more precise it will become easier for researcher's to replicate each others findings.