Fish Farm Mounds State Preserve is located in the Paleozoic Plateau landform region and contains thirty ancient conical burial mounds constructed by the Woodland peoples somewhere between 100 BC to 650 AD. Many are between 20 and 40 feet in diameter and it's believed they were built for religious, ceremonial, or burial purposes. The conical mounds were created by pouring basketfuls of soil over one or more bodies on the ground or a prepared surface. Sometimes more burials were added, making the mounds bigger. They are protected by law. The mounds sit on a wooded terrace above the Mississippi River's floodplain and is composed of sandy river sediments deposited when the floodplain was almost 100 feet higher.
Fish Farm Mounds State Preserve was given to the state by the Fish family and became an archaeological state preserve in 1968.
Fees, permits, and reservations may apply.
