In "My Antonia," how does the Indian circle serve as a metaphor for the cycle of life?

The Indian circle in the grass reminds the reader that though the fields are empty and undeveloped, they have a long history that stretches way back before white settlers came west. Though Jim's family and the Shimerdas are new settlers in Nebraska, the land had been inhabited by Native Americans for centuries before. While Jim thinks that the Indian circle is a good omen, it is also a sign that the white settlers never know the land as well as they think they do ‹that it will surprise them and that it will endure long after they are gone.