The ancients who began building them at least 2,000 years ago knew the spot at the crest of Dayton's Bluff overlooking the majestic bend in the Mississippi River was special. And holy.
But then came the European settlers, who saw the curious mounds of earth scattered on the promontory as an obstacle to otherwise prime property with panoramic views of St. Paul.
"Mound bulldozed to improve view," reads one planner's cold notation.
It has taken long and sometimes painful decades for a shift in attitudes toward the burial sites at Indian Mounds Park in St. Paul. But finally, they have been afforded a full measure of official respect: The mounds recently were placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.
"It's really just a recognition of their historic significance, that they are worthy of preservation," said David Mather, who is the National Register archaeologist with the Minnesota Historical Society, which long pursued formal approval for the listing.
The mounds, a remnant of thousands clustered in groups along the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers lost to settlement, and the last left in the Twin Cities, were regarded as historically important and eligible for the register as far back as the early 1980s.
"We thought it was past time to do that," Mather said.
The new status affords the mounds a small measure of federal protection, he said, but a state law passed in 1976 — the Private Cemeteries Act — goes far beyond that to prevent any further harm to the sites.