Today was a day of field trip. We went to the Effigy Mounds National Park. This park is located along the Mississippi river, border of Iowa State and the southern part of Wisconsin State. It took 2 or 3 hours to go to. Our teacher took us.

First, we went to the Pikes Peak State Park to have a lunch. The scenery was so beautiful. We could see the Mississippi river and dense forest.

After leaving there, we went to the Effigy National park. We watched the introduction movie first, and then, one of the guides gave us an explanation.

Mounds are an American Indian窶冱 ruins. We have similar mounds in Japan either. But Effigy mounds were very amusing shapes. Some looked like bears, others were like birds. Knives and hammers made of stones were excavated.

According to the explanation, details about the mounds are still unknown.
It is said that people started to live here 12000 years ago, and then, 3000 years ago, they started to build the mounds. Today, we can see the mounds created about 1400 years ago. This might be a religious site or ceremonial site.
But 750 years ago, the cultural transition made them stop creating mounds; they began to farming.
And then, Europeans came around 1600s, and large number of people moved there until 1840s. Most of the mounds were destroyed. Now about 1000 mounds survived.

We took a walk around the mounds and mountain. The scenery was rally beautiful. Mississippi River was magnificent.

It is important to know about the American Indian life because the United States is not only a country for the immigrants but for the indigenous people. Lots of American Indian must have lived there. However, many people had ignored the fact. We should know and respect their culture or lifestyles more.