Hundreds of people, including members of Wisconsin tribes who traveled from distant points in the state and beyond, gathered at the Capitol on one of the coldest days in recent memory to protest the bill. As they gathered Tuesday, hoisting "Save the Mounds" placards, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) announced that the measure would likely not come up for a vote this spring.

Rep. Robb Kahl (D-Monona), though, told those gathered at the Capitol, "They will push this bill again I assure you," adding that development interests in his own district are at issue. "You need to keep your voices loud, and you need to keep coming back," Kahl said.

The bill is supported by various manufacturing and development organizations, including Wingra Stone and Redi-Mix, which is in a legal battle with the state and the Ho-Chunk Nation over control of mounds in a quarry it owns.

Indeed, this controversy has been recurring for generations, each time raising awareness about these ancient survivors, the soft bumps that pervade the state in public parks, backyards, fields and private lands.

It is striking how little is known about these mounds. Why are there so many here? What purpose did they serve? What were their meanings?

What we do know is that as many as 20,000 of these earthen sculptures existed here when European and American explorers and settlers first arrived in this part of the world. Complex, patterned clusters of them were embedded into the landscape "harmoniously, even artfully," write Robert A. Birmingham and Leslie E. Eisenberg in "Indian Mounds of Wisconsin," one of the more approachable and authoritative books on the subject.