Burrows Park Effigy Mound and Campsite

Burrows Park in Madison, Wisconsin, preserves an archaeological site from the Late Woodland period, likely dating between 700 and 1200 A.D. Its surviving earthwork is a bird-shaped effigy mound with a wingspan of 128 feet, created by the people often called the Mound Builders. These effigy mounds served as burial sites, and animal forms carried symbolic meaning; bird-shaped mounds represented sky spirits. The site once included a fox-shaped mound, now destroyed, and the remaining bird effigy has also suffered damage. A 1934 restoration repaired vandalism and cleaned the area, helping preserve one of Madison’s remaining examples of this Indigenous mound-building tradition.

Madison, Wisconsin · United States