The state park is the site of an ancient Middle Mississippian village that thrived along the Crawfish River near current Lake Mills, Wisconsin between AD 900 and 1200, before being abandoned for unknown reasons between 1200 and 1300. Central to this village are large, flat-topped pyramidal mounds similar to the larger, more well-known platform mounds at the Cahokia site near St. Louis. Across the river from the village site are several smaller conical mounds. What remains of the earthen works have been maintained by the park, and a large wooden stockade around the village has been reconstructed, giving visitors an impressive understanding of the site. To support further field exploration, identification, and earthwork profiles of features at this site, Wisconsin DNR called on Continental Mapping to create a high-accuracy surface model of the park. Aerial lidar data was collected with an average point spacing of 0.7m or better, with vertical accuracies of 15cm RMSE and horizontal accuracies of 0.5m or better.

The DNR also plans on further developing this data in cooperation with students at Madison Media Institute, building a realistic digital 3D simulation showing the village at its peak for display at the park. Continental Mapping is excited to have completed yet another lidar study of an important Midwest archaeological site. In 2008, we completed a similar high-accuracy lidar project for the Effigy Mounds National Monument on the Mississippi River in Iowa. Using lidar to penetrate dense tree cover and high grasses, a detailed elevation model was delivered to archaeologists with the National Park Service, allowing them to further understand the layout and positions of mounds, and eventually leading to their discovery of a previously unidentified mound.