NATIONAL PARK SERVICE THAT THE PAST SHALL LIVE... the history program of the National Park Service

THE foregoing paragraphs from Don Watson's "Indians of the Mesa Verde" paint an unforgettable picture. They also set the mood for the balance of our journey through centuries of time. To gain the most from it, we must, for a time, leave our modern selves behind.

From southwestern Colorado and the Mesa Verde, let us turn next to Iowa for another glimpse of American life in prehistoric times, where—some 1,000 years ago—an Indian people thrived in the northern Mississippi Valley. Little is actually known about the way these people lived. They left behind no architectural monuments such as those of the Mesa Verde. They were roving hunters, and probably lived in some form of temporary shelter similar to a wigwam or tepee. But one thing they did leave behind that distinguished them from other peoples. These were curiously artistic burial mounds built in the shapes of animals and birds.

So here, too, prehistoric man had had the urge to indulge in a sort of art form. In a brief pause in our journey at Effigy Mounds National Monument, we can imagine him at work, because here some of his best efforts are preserved. As at Mesa Verde, we can close our eyes and picture the tender care with which each curious earth effigy was formed to receive the body of a departed loved one; the careful selection of just the right animal or bird to serve this solemn purpose—be it hawk, eagle, bear, or fox, panther, dog, deer, or turtle. All of these, and more, are found at Effigy Mounds, and some are monumental works. One, the Great Bear Mound, is 70 feet across the shoulders and front legs, 137 feet long, and 3-1/2 feet high.

So these ancient people, too, left their mark on this continent, and were a part of its development. We can see them today—if we try.

Turning southward, we pause next at the large, scientifically excavated Indian site at Ocmulgee National Monument near Macon, Georgia. Here, thanks to the skill and patience of the archeologist, we can see a parade of history, going back in time some 10,000 years, spread before our eyes.

Let us look in first on the ancient circular earth-covered temple, or earthlodge, where the people known as the Master Farmers held their religious ceremonies and councils of tribal government some 1,000 years ago. Restored over the original clay floor, we see it almost exactly as it was when the town was peopled with the men and women and children of that prehistoric race. Along the red clay walls a raised clay bench contains 47 seats. Opposite the door is a raised clay platform in the shape of an eagle, with 3 more seats at the back for the Very Important Persons of the day. It requires but little imagination to people these 50 seats with Indians, drinking their sacred cassena tea and deliberating on affairs of state, with the sacred fire burning brightly in the sunken fire pit in the center of the room.

Moving to the western edge of the village we see the Funeral Mound, which served as the burial center for the town. Here the remains of important persons were buried with elaborate ceremonies. Standing there, we have but to close our eyes to see the burial ceremony, with loving hands carefully placing ornaments, tools, and jars of food to serve the needs of the departed one in an after-life to come.

At Ocmulgee, we see these things and much more. We see the distinctive grooved spear point of the Wandering Hunters who came to the area perhaps 10,000 years ago; relics of the Shellfish Eaters who had a taste for seafood and were attracted to the Central Georgia regions by beds of mussels in the rivers; and the beautiful pottery, decorated with elaborately stamped designs, of the Early Farmers who lived here from about 100 B.C. until 900 A.D.

At Mesa Verde, at Effigy Mounds, at Ocmulgee, the early peoples come to life. We have walked on the same earth on which they walked. We have seen and touched with our hands the objects their hands touched hundreds, thousands of years ago. And, through this contact, they have, for a time, seemed very close.