A Report on the Mitigation of Impacts Upon the Beckwith Mound Group (47RI20) Gotham, Richland County, Wisconsin

摘要

This report summarizes past and present day archeological investigations conducted on the abandoned townsite of Richland City, Wisconsin (ca. 1849-1920). This village was platted on top of several prehistoric mound, village and workshop sites at the mouth of the Pine River, Richland County, southwestern Wisconsin. A historical background of the region and a chronology of the regional cultural sequence is furnished. Before destruction by farming and townsite activities, five mound groups containing at least 64 mounds, including 2 effigy mounds, stood at this location. Associated with them were several habitation areas and stone knapping sites. Erosion of the north bank of the Wisconsin River from 1872 onwards destroyed much of the townsite and the prehistoric sites on which it stood. All available evidence points to the conclusion that little of the mound group or other features have survived.