Important in the case of the Wisconsin mound-builders are several elemends missing from Paleolithic and Holocene art. (Coincidentally elements I recently blogged about). Most strikingly is the portrayal (in mounds and in ceramic) of imaginary creatures -- the turtle/lizard/underground water panther, the thunderbird, and the hero character. Reading that the horned-man shaped mounds may represent a legendary hero and not just a generic human reminded me of the class discussion where we talked about how Paleolithic humans would understand the imagery of a Christian church -- missing from Paleolithic art are the representation of specific people. Not only are the mound-builders portraying a specific person, it is one, larger than life, that no one knows personally.

What I am curious about is the moment in history when people "switched over", from creating purely literal and figurative art to depicting mythological creatures and imaginary people in their art. Might Paleolithic groups have had myths like the Woodland peoples that fail to be represented in their cave paintings?

The reading mentions the fact that several mound groups are oriented to celestial phenomena, which are important to agricultural societies for predicting the seasons. Is it possible that turning to agriculture not only gave communities a food surplus (and therefore a free time surplus) but also no data to inform myth and story creation? Not only (as we talked about in class) are agricultural communities more at the mercy of natural forces, they have more elements to account for in their life -- rain and thunder and sun and the planet venus, and pests like rabbits and crows -- not only large game animals. This 'richer' mental life may have given the future mound builders a better foundation for the myths which developed into a religious tradition.