Located in Sherman Park are Woodland Period burial mounds dating back to 400 C.E. Although they appear to be little more than a series of small grassy hills, they were of religious importance to Indigenous peoples.
The Native peoples of the Woodland Period (500 B.C.E. to 1100 C.E.) were not the same as the Indigenous Nations we are familiar with today. Even though the mounds lie on ancestral Dakota land, they are not Dakota in origin. The Dakota did not arrive in present-day Sioux Falls until the mid-eighteenth century. Instead, it is most likely that the moundbuilders of the Woodland tradition were the ancestors of several northern plains village tribes, such as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and many more. It’s difficult to ascertain tribal ancestry until there is more consultation and collaboration with Indigenous peoples in historic research.
In 1962, the University of South Dakota partially excavated one of the mounds to uncover information about the mound’s builders and time period. The archaeologists uncovered four partial sets of human remains, in addition to ceramic sherds. The radiocarbon dating placed the burials and mound construction around the year 400 C.E., the era known as the Woodland Period.
The Woodland Period groups moved around this area and lived in temporary shelters, leaving only their mounds as permanent structures. The construction of mounds began in the Woodland Period and evolved over centuries. These mounds were unique not just in their monumental significance, but also in the tribe’s funerary practices for their dead. In the 1962 excavation, the archaeologists only found larger bones of the burials because several Woodland tribes had a practice now called "scaffolding." Prior to burial, the dead were placed on a scaffold for a number of days. After being exposed for a set period of time, the larger bones were collected and buried in the mounds. These mounds stood for centuries as monuments to the dead. However, these mounds should never have been excavated.
It is important to mention the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990 when discussing Indigenous burials, including these mounds. Out of respect for the living descendent communities and their ancestors, it is now illegal to excavate burial grounds. Archaeologists and those in other fields, such as medicine and biology, have long histories of grave robbing under the guise of science. The disturbance of Indigenous gravesites is a violation of Native religion and beliefs, and of federal law.
Indigenous nations have always opposed destructive archaeological practices without proper consultation. In the modern era with new protective legislation like NAGPRA, sovereign tribes can fight back on unethical excavations. One well-known Indigenous activist was Maria Pearson of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. She fought for just and humane treatment of indigenous remains in the state of Iowa, setting the precedent for NAGPRA.
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