description

This book is the first to examine a series of mounds groups and show how repeating patterns found in the way the mounds are placed on the ground can be interpreted as a symbol system meant to communicate in earth writing aspects of the worldview of the Tribal ancestors responsible for their construction. As readers we have mastered the syntax that governs our English language and have learned how, by convention, to read our texts from left to right then down the page. The syntax governing the effigy symbol system uses four factors that provide the mounds group with dynamic meaning which also integrates aspects of the ethological adaptations of their Clan animal to seasonal change in the context of the role function of each Clan. The flow of a river, the contours of the terrain, the alignments of the sun on the horizon at the equinox and solstices and the alignment to the rise of the milky way all combine to provide dynamic direction to each group. The size of an effigy can act like topic sentence to provide a place to start to read the text. Since most mounds are considered “burial mounds” the effigy groups described in this book focus mainly on birth into the natural world, mortal death and re-birth into the spirit world. This is the second book by Dr. Maier which interprets effigy mounds groups and shows the maturation of his interpretive model