The 2025 keynote speaker for the MAS Annual Meeting, March 15 at the Oasis Hotel in Springfield will be Dr. David Benn who will present: Geoglyph Cosmograms in Native American Mythology of the Northern Plains. This presentation is free and open to the public. See abstract below.

Geoglyphs at three Middle–Late Woodland and Oneota sites (13WD130, 13WD134, 39LN108) in northwestern Iowa and adjacent South Dakota take the form of anthropomorphs, turtles, bison, and thunderers that are similar to petroglyphs at Pipestone Monument in southern Minnesota. Evidence indicates the geoglyphs were cosmograms where vision quests and other life-renewal rituals were conducted. The cosmograms and ritual evidence are compared to ethnographic descriptions of Lakota tribal myths to reveal possible symbolism. The sites are hypothesized to have once been part of “sacred” localities where multiple ritual sites fitted a structured mythological landscape. In this narrative, archeological investigation penetrates two levels of inquiry: the sacred geography of place and legendary archetypes of mythology.