32 kilometers south of Olympia, in Washington There is a mysterious and curious landscape: the ground is full of small mounds covered with grass and that extends along several hundred acres. They are known as the Mima mounds and even after years of research, to this day, no one knows who or what caused them. .
On several occasions, different groups of researchers have believed to solve the enigma of this strange earth formation but all those hypotheses launched have been wrong.
Some of the Hypothesis for Mima mounds
1. Impact of nature
There is now Washington, about 2 million years ago, there were huge layers of ice that covered the earth completely. According to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the soil of these mima mounds was formed after these glaciers of the Ice Age they will start to get rid , around 16,500 years ago.
As the ice melted, it gathered massive layers of lava and rock. It was this accumulation of melted ice and undone rock that spread over western Washington forming that unusual black and burdensome soil that, finally, would give rise to the mounds.
This theory of some scientists responds to the formation of the soil but, on the other hand, the explanation of the mounds would not be very clear since in that part of the investigation, there are many gaps.
2. Influence of Native Americans
Captain Charles Wilkes, an intrepid explorer from the northwest of the country, encountered these strange elevations in 1841. Due to the size of these mounds, 2 meters high and 9 meters wide, he hypothesized that could contain human remains from some local tribe, a kind of tombs on the ground. In order to prove his theory, Wilkes had to dig in some of the mounds but did not find any trace of human bones . In its place it only found stones and more earth.
3. Popular beliefs
As in almost any mystery, popular beliefs take a big role and in this case it could not be otherwise. There is a Popular legend told by the Chehalis tribe:
Thrush, who was a member of that tribe, one day decided to stop bathing for fear that something terrible would happen on Earth. Evidently, the rest of the members of the tribe rebuked him and after a lot of pressure, she ended up yielding and consented to wash her face. According to this fantastic story, that day it rained with such intensity that the Earth was flooded completely. When the rains are over, the land of the prairies took the shape of the waves , which gave rise to those mounds mima.
4. Ground squirrels
In 1942, Walter Dalquest, professor at the University of Washington and Victor Scheffer, biologist, launched their hypothesis to the "Journal of Geology" accusing the ground squirrels of the formation of the mounds mima. This is one of the ideas that has gained most strength and has achieved a greater number of followers although no one has been able to prove to date, conclusively, that the ground squirrels are behind the mounds.
5. More hypotheses about the formation of the mounds
Another hypothesis about the origin of these strange mounds is that their formation was due to earthquake shockwaves , floods or the melting of the glaciers themselves. It is also pointed out that they may be a product of the frozen ground when they break during the Ice Age . That could have caused the ice to crack and let the soil pile up when it melted.
Currently you can read many of these speculations, and some more, on the observation platform of the National Natural Landmark, which opened in 1966. Surely many of them will be absurd , but it is always curious to observe the creativity of the human mind when it tries to respond to things that escape its logic.
If you have the soul of an adventurer and you are attracted to the idea of becoming a hero, you can try to decipher the mystery. Depending on the time you choose to go to the place, you can have a magnificent view of Mount Rainier, as well as Mount St. Helens, a perfect place to reflect on the mystery of which we have spoken in today's article, the Mima mounds of Washington .
What do you think of our article today? Do you think any of the hypotheses we have revealed to you is close to what could be the truth? What do you think? What should be the true origin of mound mounds? Do you dare to give us a theory about this fact? We are looking forward to hearing your proposals!