Panther Intaglio

Along the Rock River in the small town of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, is a depression in the ground in front of a bait shop that you could easily miss. This depression, however, is an ancient artifact dug by Native Americans between 700 and 1200, known as the Panther Intaglio.

It was part of a mound and intaglio complex in and around the town, and one of many across the state documented by the Wisconsin engineer and naturalist Increase Lapham in 1850. Many of the mounds, and all of the intaglios but this one have been lost, but Lapham’s work led to the preservation of this one.

While it is known as the Panther Intaglio, many, including Lapham himself, have called it a lizard or a water spirit, because of its proximity to the Rock River, and because water spirits are associated with the lower world rather than the animal/spirit shapes of the mounds in the upper world. Regardless, its exact significance was unknown even by local tribes during Lapham's study and remains so today.

Thanks to the Daughters of the American Revolution and city officials, the Panther Intaglio was preserved in 1910 to prevent its destruction. In 1970, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.