Medicine Wheel Park is more than just its iconic wheel; it is also home to ancient Native American burial mounds. The sacred complex was originally made up of 15 circular mounds and 5 linear mounds. No one knows the purpose of the linear mounds, but the circular mounds marked subterranean graves and sometimes held multiple individuals, reflecting centuries of spiritual and social traditions.

Joe Stickler speaks to their presence and power. [INSERT QUOTE FROM INTERVIEW] “Here you’re on this bluff overlooking the beautiful Sheyenne River Valley, and you’re on this land that Native Americans somewhere between 500 to 2,000 years ago used as a cemetery. They thought it was so beautiful that they used this as their cemetery. And it’s just a beautiful place. You’re going to have to come here and visit sometime so you can feel it.”

These burial mounds belong to the Plains Woodland and Plains Village cultures. Long before the iconic image of the Plains Indian on horseback, these communities lived along rivers, cultivating corn, beans, and squash, while supplementing their food through hunting and gathering. They built semi-permanent villages with homes capable of sheltering dozens, carefully positioned along fertile floodplains.

Surveys in the late 19th century documented these mounds along with rock alignments and other cultural features. Each mound represents more than a burial. It preserves social, ceremonial, and spiritual practices, connecting the living to their ancestors. Today, North Dakota law protects these sites as sacred, unmarked burial grounds.

Medicine Wheel Park honors both human ingenuity and ancestral presence. The wheel itself celebrates early discoveries of the sun and seasons, while the burial mounds remind visitors of the people who lived, worked, and worshiped here long before. Walking among the mounds, you can feel that connection to those who came before, bridging centuries and offering a quiet reminder of the enduring legacy of these early cultures.