Evidence of prehistoric Native American cultures in the Mines of Spain region dates back as many as 8,000 years, with mounds, village sites, rock shelters, trading post sites, and campsites across the landscape. The first humans arrived in the Upper Mississippi Valley during the Paleo-Indian Period from 10,000 BC to 8,000 BC, followed by the Archaic Period from 8,000 BC to 500 BC, the Woodland Period from 500 BC to 1,000 AD, and the Oneota Culture from 1,000 AD to 1,500 AD, when farming villages were established along the Upper Mississippi Valley. The Mesquakie, also known as Sac and Fox, were the earliest known historic inhabitants of the Mines of Spain. The Mesquakie, or Red Earth people, are believed to have originated on the east coast, were Algonquian by language, were forced out of the Great Lakes region by the French, and finally settled in this area, where their village stood at the mouth of Catfish Creek. From there they carried on a fur trade with French voyagers and worked the lead mines for many decades before the Revolutionary War. In the 1700's the Sauk and Mesquakie arrived in the Dubuque area; in 1764 Mesquakie lead mining and log furnace smelting began at the Mines of Spain; in the 1780's a Mesquakie Kettle Chief village was established at or near the mouth of Catfish Creek; and in 1788 the Mesquakie gave Julien Dubuque permission to begin mining lead on the Mines of Spain. From 1830 to 1832 the Mesquakie abandoned the village on Catfish Creek but returned periodically to mine lead and hunt; from 1832 to 1833 the Black Hawk War was in progress; in 1833 the Black Hawk Treaty opened the Mines of Spain to official white settlement as the Mesquakie were forced out; in 1842 the Mesquakie and Sauk sold their Iowa land to the United States government and were resettled in Kansas and Oklahoma; and in 1856 many Mesquakie returned to Iowa and settled in Tama County. Fox was a mistaken name that grew from French explorers confusing Wagosh, the name of a clan, for the entire tribe; the people called themselves Mesquakie, meaning Red Earth people.