ENDEAVOR - The discovery of Native American burial mounds will stop future development on a hill home to the old Academy Building that is owned by the village.

A group of representatives from the Ho-Chunk Nation performed an archaeology study of the hill recently, finding three Native American burial mounds. The discovery brings the total number of burials on the 15-acre property to four. A turtle mound was found in the same area during a similar archaeology study in May.

"We're working on trying to map this out and get it preserved," Ho-Chunk Nation archaeologist Jay Toth of Black River Falls said.

All human burial sites, including cemeteries and Indian mounds, are protected under state burial law, Section 157.70 of Wisconsin Statues. The statute prohibits "any person from intentionally causing or permitting the disturbance of a catalogued burial site or the catalogued land contiguous to a catalogued burial site without a permit from the director of the State Historical Society." The law applies to both public and private lands. Owners of burial sites may receive property tax exemptions.

"Once these mounds are catalogued, you won't be able to put a house here," said Toth.

The turtle mound and a conical mound are located just a few feet from the north side of the Academy Building. The mounds face away from each other and are separated by about 10 feet.

"This area used to be our playground, no one knew mounds were here," Village Board trustee Neal John said. "We played tetherball here."

John attended grade school at the Academy Building until 1985. He was the only village resident present at the Nov. 20 archaeology study.

Toth said that a majority of effigy mounds appear in the shapes of animals and birds. These shapes represent the clans of the tribe to which the individuals belonged. The burial mounds are 800 to 2,000 years old.

According to Toth, the turtle mound in its original state was 3-feet high and about 30-feet long. Many effigy mounds were used as burials, but not every mound contains remains.

"If the burials did not occur in the mounds, they were near the mounds," said Toth.

Toth said that the turtle mound does in fact contain burials, but not all of the original burials remain.

"At some time remains were taken and used for a science project at the Academy," said Toth. "No one seems to know where the remains are."

The two other mounds found are located in the wooded area directly adjacent to the Academy Building on the west side. A conical and linear mound were flagged on Thursday. The mounds exist in close proximity to each other, with one lying north-south and the other lying east-west. They were found amongst the trees and brush, about 25 feet from the edge of grass. No additional mounds were found on the hill or underneath the Academy Building.

Archaeologists with the Ho-Chunk Nation use a ground-penetrating radar system to find human remains. The system, which looks like a make-shift golf bag on wheels, works on the surface without penetrating the soil. It locates where human remains are by picking up moisture and soil readings in the ground. The system, which costs $14,000, does not disturb the mounds. The Ho-Chunk Nation is the only governmental entity in the state to own such a system.

"Basically we're looking for disturbances, breakages in the structure and flow of the natural soil," Ho-Chunk Tribal Preservation Officer Bill Quackenbush said. "The only thing that disturbs soil is man."

The radar system stores the ground readings onto a computer disk. Quackenbush said the readings will be taken back to the Ho-Chunk Governmental Offices in Black River Falls where they will be turned into 3-D grids of the area.

Once the burials are catalogued with the state, future development on the hill will be limited. The municipally owned property can still be used for future development, but parcels containing catalogued burials are off-limits and protected under state law.

Since no burials were discovered underneath the Academy Building, the building and its current location will not be affected by the preservation of the mounds. The Academy Building is one of the oldest buildings in Endeavor, dating back to the early 1900s.

The Academy Building housed a Christian school from June 1902 until 1925. During this time, the village changed its name from Merritt's Landing to Endeavor.

After the academy closed, it became Endeavor High School until 1954 and then Endeavor Elementary School in the Portage Community School District. The building then served as the headquarters for Endeavor's government from 1989 until 2006.

In April 2006, voters passed a

referendum allowing the village to vacate the building due to high maintenance costs and the building's deteriorating condition. The building has remained idle since.

kkirkpatrick@capitalnewspapers.com

745-3509