Little Maquoketa River Mounds State Preserve

Topics:

State Preserves

On this page...

Directions
Burial Mounds

Geological Features
Nearby Archaeological Sites

Little Maquoketa River Mounds is a 42-acre preserve containing an ancient burial mound group. This preserve is located south of Sageville, two miles north of Dubuque, in Dubuque County. It was purchased by the Iowa Department of Transportation in 1977 with assistance from several federal, state, and local agencies working in cooperation with Native American representatives. It was dedicated as an archaeological and geological state preserve in 1981.

Directions

From the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 52 in Dubuque, take Highway 52 north through Dubuque to Sageville (5.5 miles), just past the second turnoff for John Deere Road (Highway 386).
The preserve is on the west side of the road (sign: Little Maquoketa River Mounds).
A parking area is available (sign: Little Maquoketa River State Preserve).
Follow the trail 0.25 mile uphill to the mounds.

Burial Mounds

There are thirty-two conical and linear burial mounds in the preserve, ranging from six inches to four feet in height and from twelve to forty feet in diameter, and occupying a total area of about 3 acres on the summit of a tall ridge. They were constructed during the Late Woodland period between a.d. 700 and 1200. It is thought that the mounds were constructed for both burial and ceremonial purposes.

Geological Features

Geologically, the mound group sits atop a narrow ridge of resistant Ordovician-age Galena dolomite (450 million years old ) which stands nearly 200 feet above the surrounding valleys. It is in the landform region of northeast Iowa known as the Paleozoic Plateau. Thousands of years ago, the Little Maquoketa River flowed around this fingerlike projection to the southeast through the now abandoned Couler Valley in Dubuque to join the Mississippi River. A narrow divide separating the Mississippi River from the Little Maquoketa drainage was then breached and the flow of the Little Maquoketa River was diverted to a shorter, more direct route to the Mississippi River. This erosional process is known as “stream piracy.”