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Pine Lake State Park

Pine Lake State Park is just north and east of El- later recorded and entered in the Iowa Site File
dora, your destination for Day 3 of the ride, off of by John and Barbara Feeley, certified avocational
County Road S56. The park is in Hardin County, archaeologists of the Iowa Archeological Society.
which has over 400 documented archaeological Constructed mounds are found throughout Iowa
sites that have taught us a great deal about many in a variety of forms (e.g. conical, linear, and effi-
past cultures, spanning the last 10,000 years, gy mounds) and their protection is of the utmost
from Paleoindians to the latest homesteaders. importance since they were used for mortuary

Pine Lake State Park was developed around sev- practices and are sacred sites to American Indian
eral prehistoric mounds that were first recorded communities past and present. In 2004, as part
by Charles Keyes in 1925. Two conical mounds of efforts to evaluate, protect, and make the pub-
are located near the golf course and another large lic aware of cultural resources in the Iowa River
group of conical mounds are located in the park’s Greenbelt, the OSA developed educational pro-
picnic area. These sites represent 2 of 23 mound grams and plans to further document and protect
sites documented in Hardin County. They were sites in and around Pine Lake State Park.

Protection of Burial Sites and Ancient Human Remains in Iowa
Since mounds are burial sites, they are offered extra protection under the Code
of Iowa. The law (Chapter 263B) was passed in 1976 so that all ancient hu-
man remains and burials (over 150 years old) in Iowa would be properly protected
and respectfully treated, regardless of the ancestry of individuals. The law also
made the OSA statutorily responsible for this task. If you want to know more
about bioarchaeology and the protection of ancient human remains in Iowa,
ask a member of Team Archaeology!