Wisconsin's First People

Woodland Potters & Gardeners 2,500 to 350 Years Ago

A great lifestyle transition occurred about 2,500 years ago with the introduction of agriculture, pottery making and mound building. These practices, probably originating from Mexico, slowly replaced the subsistence way of life. Scattered mounds along the Little Eau Pleine River prove that Woodland Indians lived here.

Corn, beans, squash and gourds were grown in summer villages, usually near streams and lakes that offered travel by canoe and fishing with gill nets.
Hunting and gathering supplemented their diet, especially the harvest of wild rice, nuts and berries.
The bow and arrow was a major innovation that improved accuracy from the earlier atlatl.
Recent archeological digs in mounds on the Little Eau Pleine have uncovered small stone arrowheads and pottery sherds from these woodland people.

This early Woodland scraper had been reworked from a broken notched point.

Woodland Points These middle woodland (about 2,000 years old) points were found in a 1969 Lawrence University excavation of two mounds near the river.

Late Woodland Points These small triangular points are true arrowheads from the late Woodland period (about 1,400 years ago) when the bow and arrow were first used in North America. These were found by Walter Krause in nearby farm fields.

Rimsherds & Bodysherds These rimsherds and bodysherds were described as "punctated and Lake Nokomis Trailed Middle Woodland, AD 1-500". They were collected in the Lawrence University dig.

Middle Woodland Pottery These middle woodland (about 1,400 years old) pottery sherds were found in a 1969 Lawrence University excavation of two mounds near the Little Eau Pleine River.

Woodland Pottery Pottery was a major innovation of the Woodland Cultural Tradition. Clay was rolled and coiled into the shape of the vessel, a rim was attached and the exterior decorated with punctated or cord-marked designs. The finished pieces were hardened in an open fire pit.