National Significance of the Loess Hills Archaeology

The Loess Hills, known to scholars and laypeople alike as one of North America’s natural treasures, is also one of North America’s archaeological treasures.This unique landscape harbors hundreds of well-preserved earthlodge dwellings and palisaded villages built by the ancestral Plains Indians.

The archaeological legacy of the Loess Hills lies in the rich archaeological record that boasts of over 1,000 Late Prehistoric Glenwood earthlodges in the south and pairs of palisaded Mill Creek villages and ancient cornfields in the north. These two very differently expressed ancestral Plains Indian cultures occupied the Loess Hills at the same time and provide an unparalleled opportunity to explore 300 years of cultural diversity in this unique landscape. Transcending time, the archaeological legacy of the region is also tied to the struggle for Native Indian rights and events that would be instrumental in leading the nation toward protection and reburial of Native Indian remains. These characteristics are intrinsic to the archaeology of the Loess Hills and they are of unequivocal national significance.

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