I don't know why I am spending so much time on this, but I find it interesting. I like to find strange little historical things when I go on bicycling trips. Maybe someone on a skeptic board will find this interesting.
This is a historical marker by the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. More pictures will follow.
Bow and Arrow
The rock outline you see on the distant bluff is an archeological curiosity. Jacob V. Brower, a Minnesota archeologist, observed this formation in 1902 and interpreted it as a bow and arrow. In 1903 he wrote, "Some of the stones representing the bowstring are displaced. The intention seems to have been to represent a bow and arrow drawn to shoot toward Lake Pepin" [wide part of Mississippi] Modern archeologists think the boulders may form a bird effigy, but no one has reached a definite conclusion. Although it is an old, well-known landmark, perhaps even ancient, its origin and age are unknown and it is not part of the Indian lore of this region. Boulder alignments made by Indians exist in other states, but this is the only one known in Wisconsin. Was it made by Indians? Is it a bow and arrow or a bird? It remains a mystery. Erected 1979.
This is a historical marker by the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. More pictures will follow.
Bow and Arrow
The rock outline you see on the distant bluff is an archeological curiosity. Jacob V. Brower, a Minnesota archeologist, observed this formation in 1902 and interpreted it as a bow and arrow. In 1903 he wrote, "Some of the stones representing the bowstring are displaced. The intention seems to have been to represent a bow and arrow drawn to shoot toward Lake Pepin" [wide part of Mississippi] Modern archeologists think the boulders may form a bird effigy, but no one has reached a definite conclusion. Although it is an old, well-known landmark, perhaps even ancient, its origin and age are unknown and it is not part of the Indian lore of this region. Boulder alignments made by Indians exist in other states, but this is the only one known in Wisconsin. Was it made by Indians? Is it a bow and arrow or a bird? It remains a mystery. Erected 1979.