The Palace Site is a ca. 7,000-year-old archeological site in Des Moines, Iowa with evidence for some of the oldest houses west of the Mississippi valley and the oldest human burial in Iowa. [1] Since 2011, the site has yielded 6,000 or more artifacts, which included human skeletons.
A short documentary of the excavation is available on YouTube. [2] When a sewage plant was being built in the area, artifacts were found. The total of artifacts at Palace Site reached over 6,000 by 2011. [3]
The site was discovered during construction of a new wastewater treatment facility. [3] Anytime federally permitted or funded construction is occurring, archaeologists are called to perform an evaluation of potential archaeological sites in the area.
According to Bill Whittaker, a co-director of the dig “It became clear very quickly that the site was something spectacular — something none of us had seen before or probably will ever again, as well-preserved house deposits of this age are extremely rare west of the Mississippi River Valley,” [3]