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Aztalan State Park, Wisconsin – Fortifications and Platform Mound
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Mishipizheu (also known as the Great Horned Lynx), Agawa Rock, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario
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Video of Agawa Rock, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario
The Agawa Rock pictographs are located on a rock outcropping extending into Lake Superior in Agawa Bay. Some paintings are at least 1500 years old, while others may only date back to the 1800s. “Agawa” means “sacred place” in the Ojibwe language. The Ojibwe believed that spirits concentrated in the rock outcroppings of the Lake Superior shore, which belonged to the mysterious domain of the powerful Ojibwe sea monster Mishipizheu (also known as the Great Horned Lynx). The first printed reference to the Agawa pictographs occurred in ethnographer Henry Schoolcraft’s 1851 study “The American Indians. Their History, Condition and Prospects.” The pictographs, recount the daring crossing of eastern Lake Superior by a fleet of war canoes, led by the warrior and medicine man Myeengun, with the blessing of Mishipizheu.
Lake Superior Provincial Park – Ontario, Canada
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Frijoles Canyon, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
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Video of Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Adolph Bandelier, the first anthropological scholar of the southwest, explored Frijoles Canyon, New Mexico in 1880. The oldest site in Bandelier National Monument dates back to 2010 B.C. Around 1100 A.D. Pueblo Indians began inhabiting Frijoles Canyon and the Pajarito Plateau. Around 1300 A.D. about a dozen large villages existed in the area. One of them, Tyuonyi, is accessible within the Monument near the visitor’s center. The remnants of cliff cave dwellings dug into the volcanic tuft, along the canyon walls, suggest an extensive multi-story village. Some of these Pueblo structures with labyrinths of caves and rooms were occupied for over 400 years. Approximately 3,000 archaeological sites are being documented within the Monument. An unexcavated village, Tsankawi, lies 11 miles away in a separate section of the Monument. The pueblos and cliff cave dwellings were vacated in the 1500’s. Part of the Monument has wilderness designation. Visitors can overnight in the backcountry with a permit. Family and group campgrounds are also available.
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Rockshelter, Natural Bridge State Park – Leland, Wisconsin
