Turkey River Mounds State Preserve is a historic site located near the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Millville, Iowa Millville is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated town and former city in Clayton County, Iowa, Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 30 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, up from 23 in the 2000 United States census, ...

, United States. The preserve contains thirty-eight of forty-three Native American mounds located on a narrow Paleozoic Plateau at the confluence of the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

rivers. They vary in size and shape and are to in height. The conical mounds range from to over in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

. The linear mounds vary from to in length. There is one

effigy mound An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. The Effigy Moundbuilder culture is primarily associated with the years 550-1200 CE during the Late Woodland Peri ...

in the shape of a panther that is long and wide. There are also compound mounds in the preserve. The mounds were constructed during the Woodland period (500

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

and 900 CE). They were used for burials and ceremonial places, and are now protected by law. The preserve is also home to a variety of trees, prairie grasses and flowers. The mounds were first surveyed in 1885, and Ellison Orr studied them in the 1930s. People from

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

bought the property in 1934 and gave it to the Iowa Conservation Commission in 1940. Other archaeological surveys were undertaken in 1964 and 1973. It was dedicated as a state preserve in 1968 for its archaeological, geological, and biological qualities. The preserve was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as a historic district in 1990.

References

Protected areas established in 1968 Mounds in Iowa Iowa state preserves Native American history of Iowa Protected areas of Clayton County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clayton County, Iowa Historic districts in Clayton County, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Protected areas on the Mississippi River Woodland period Driftless Area Geoglyphs {{ClaytonCountyIA-NRHP-stub