Blood Run Site

Blood Run Site is a vast archaeological landscape on the Iowa-South Dakota border near Sioux Falls that preserves a Native settlement area occupied for about 8,500 years. Named for its iron-stained soil, it includes earthworks built by the Oneota culture and was later used and shared by many descendant tribal nations, including the Ioway, Otoe, Missouri, Quapaw, Kansa, Osage, Omaha, Arikara, Dakota, Nakota, and Cheyenne. French voyageurs were mapping and trading with the village by the early 18th century, when it had roughly 10,000 Native inhabitants. Once containing about 480 mounds, the site suffered severe destruction, but preservation efforts in Iowa and South Dakota have secured important portions.

Iowa · United States