During her first month of research along the Mississippi, Professor Blume visited several major archaeological sites and unmarked forest sites where American Indians have left traces of monumental architecture and earthworks. “Being at these sites at different times of the early morning, day, and evening has given me a profound sense of the importance of the landscape and the mighty presence and effect of the Mississippi River,” she says. Her studies, which were aided by colleagues from the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, have shed new light on sites that are astounding in their scale and magnificence.