>> this year, c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. next, our recent visit to madison, wisconsin. you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> we are standing on observatory hill on the campus of the university of wisconsin two of the effigy mounds on campus. madison is very lucky. it has more effigy mounds than any other city in the united dates. approaching chamberlain rock,

which is a glacial erratic that was moved to the top of the hill from the lakeshore just a short distance below us, and coming up on the wing tip of a bird effigy mound built here around 1000 years ago. are difficult to photograph. they are quite shy. every time they see a camera, they sink down into the earth and hide themselves. they are not very spectacular earthworks, but they are special. the body comes down the hill towards the lakeshore, and then the other thing is just out of sight on the other side of the body of the mound. body is extending down the slope toward the lake in front of us, and the wings extend off to each side as if it is flying up toward the hill.

a kinduld be considered of tombstone. really, they mark the graves of the dead and are carved in the shape of animals and spirits, just as sometimes you see modern headstones carved in the shape of earnings or other architectural things today. graves and sets of human remains. creation sometimes. sometimes full burials, and there's no indication that a mound is ever built. some folks got mounds but had to share them. some folks had to get mounds that were just -- that were not effigies but very simple dome-shaped constructions. we are not really clear what the division is yet. students studying the phenomena are beginning to suspect that it not economic at least some sort of social difference. the people who are buried in the a littleounds have worse nutrition. they are a little bit more likely to have suffered an

accident, and, again, they are more likely to have to share their mounds with some fellow community builders. effigy members tend to get the mounds to themselves or with one or two other people. it may be that they are just higher ranking. could ask them. that would be wonderful. the mounds in wisconsin, they are protected by state law. you cannot dig into a mound anymore. the time and archaeologists would excavate a mound or an amateur person, that is over. we have to rely on older literature. based on that, i would guess there is a single grave in this word effigy holding an adult, a child, male or female. that, we do not know. the mounts were built between 750 a.d. and around 1200 80 by a group that we call the effigy mound culture, effigy builders of the western great lakes, a time known as the lake woodland.

they were gardeners and hunters who roamed around most of and were justnsin a spectacular people. they built these monumental sculptures to their dead and have changed the landscape permanently so that we cannot forget them. these, taking topsoil from the surrounding area. there is no sign that they were pitsng deep hits -- deep to get phil for the mound. probably, they were digging shallowly so the land itself would get filled very quickly and even race the damage they had done. the madison area is an extremely rich environment. we have a concentration of proportions that would have been home to flocks of waterfowl,

geese, ducks, along with plants like wild rice and some edible roots. this would have been a wonderful place to live, very rich in resources, and a place with enough shelter to see them through the winter. the presence of high hills like we are standing on left behind the glaciers in close proximity to water may have inspired them to place the mounds here halfway between the earth and the skies. there is a religious ceremonial significance to this place as well. the mounds are concentrated in particular locations in wisconsin and surrounding states. moundspes of effigy change as you move from one territory to to the next, and these may be family or clan symbols. the folks in the madison area lived around the madison area and probably moved from one territory to another from time to time, but this would have been their home base. the campus has more mounds than any other campus in the world as

far as i am aware. there are mounds on picnic point, which is a very popular spot to just relax and look at the lakes on -- there's a northwest side of campus. there's also a group of mounts including a goose effigy, a very nice one, knew the lakeshore, knew the students that a tory them. there are other mounds in the university arboretum just a short distance from us. we are walking onto a mound that is called a two-tailed total. .t is not a turtle mound that was a term that was applied to any effigy mound shown from above so you see all four limbs. it laid out like kind of a bearskin rug. the actual creature that seems to be represented is a spirit .nown as a water panther that it's home to one of the spirits, the lake mendota water spirit. the head of the spirit is up on the top of the hill, just as the

bird is. the body extends down the slope as if it is crawling up the lake. one for them extends toward as here. the hind limb extends toward us this direction. then, the tales -- there were two tales that forked just below the hind limbs. one comes this way. the second one went towards the greenhouses and took a right angle turn. why because we knew it is the only two-tailed effigy mound ever recorded in wisconsin. the culture has survived. the people i have spoken to are quite proud of the mounds. it is not uncommon to see that there have been offerings left behind. these are still very significant places to wisconsin's tribal nation. is their heritage. we are very lucky to be able to

protect these places here in beison so that they can visited both by the descendents of the people who built the mound and by newcomers to the state. i have been studying the effigy mounds for 15 years, and in that time, i have learned a lot and other researchers have learned a lot about the mounds and the people who built them. they are wonderful and engaging works of art. you can see the hands of the artists still today on them, and at the same time, they are mysteries. they have not given up all the knowledge they can yet, and as new technologies are invented, i am just anticipating new discoveries to come and wonderful things, and we will get to know these people just a little bit more. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring

madison, wisconsin. our city tour staff recently traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more about madison and other stops on c-span cities tour at www.c-span.org /localcontent. you are watching american history tv all weekend every .eekend on c-span3 >> each week, american history " brings youmerica archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. >> war in the middle east. spearheadsces drive across the sinai peninsula west to the suez canal, breaking the blockade, capturing the west bank of the jordan river and occupying the old city of jerusalem. the first crippling blow came 25 basish air raids on in egypt, jordan, and syria.

the sinai campaign was instrumental in mapping the nation's battle plan. quickness of the israeli army crash forces with a one-to punch. charges are vigorously denied are broken.atic a cease-fire continued at the united nations. u.s. ambassador arthur goldberg issues a peace plan. an immediate debate is started in the security council representing 15 nations. while the united states and russia disagree on the wording of her troupe of her true patrol, israel's foreign ua ourr charges president plotted the murder of a state. the vote is finally taken, and

the resolution adopted unanimously. word continues to come from the battles on, telling of sweeping israeli victories. next day, egypt accepts the cease-fire, joining jordan, leaving syria facing israeli forces alone. the united nations arena remains in the world spotlight because of the many questions raised by the short but decisive middle east war. with israel now controlling the sinai peninsula, all approaches to the suez canal, old jerusalem, bethlehem, a diplomatic struggle now begins. >> you are watching american history tv, 48 hours of programming on a american history every weekend on c-span3 . follow us on twitter for information on our schedules, upcoming programs, and to keep up with the latest history news. heart --eek, american artifacts take viewers into archives, museums,