6 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries In Iowa

Iowans may be pretty familiar with the Midwestern landscapes, but there’s no way you could know what used to roam the lands without doing a bit of digging. Here are some crazy archaeological discoveries made in Iowa that will blow you away.

Flickr.com/ Susan Groppi

That's right. Giant. Sloths. These bad boys grew to be over nine feet tall and could weigh as much as 2,000 pounds! In the previous ice age, they roamed North America, and an exhibit at the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History is dedicated to them.

Flickr.com/ Vincent Lit

Sloths weren't alone in that ice age. Mammoth skeletons have been found in the midwest, and a recent finding was in a family backyard in Oskalooska, Iowa.

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Flickr.com/ Laura Bernhardt

To complete the ice age trio, the fossilized remains of this ancient predator were found in Aurelia, Iowa, and this iron sculpture was left in its honor.

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Archaeology.uiowa.edu

Yikes, and you thought your home town was stuck in the past. University of Iowa Archaeologists dug up the well-preserved remnants of this village in Des Moines, and have gained greater understanding of the tools the native people used.

Flickr.com/ Denise Krebs

It is no mystery that Native Americans used to thrive in the Iowa plains, but the remnants they left behind are still marvelous all the same. Here is a picture of an arrowhead collection at the Old Bradford Village Museum in Chickasaw County.

Flickr.com/ Jimmy Emerson, DVM

The remains of this 5,000-year-old man are the oldest remains to be found in Iowa. The discovery was made in near Turin, Iowa, and there is plenty of history to explore at the Turin Man Archaeology Site.

Who knows what other wonders lie beneath the Iowan soil, and who will be the one who makes that discovery? These findings really put time and life in scale, and help to keep us humble. Which of these archaeological findings shocked you the most, and are there any that we didn’t list? Comment below and share!