• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Man finds what may be ancient human bones in Dubuque

Man finds what may be ancient human bones in Dubuque

June 28, 2007 By admin

While walking his dog this week, a Dubuque man found human bones — which investigators say may pre-date Iowa’s statehood. Fran Henkels, a Dubuque attorney, says he was stunned by the discovery on his evening stroll.

Henkels says, "There were two teeth on the jaw, a piece of jaw, probably about two inches long, a couple teeth on it and what looked like the cap of a skull." He says that area of Dubuque is known as Kelly’s Bluff and was reportedly an early Catholic cemetery in the mid-1800s.

Henkels says: "What surprised me more than anything is that anything is that they were just sitting there I didn’t have to dig for them, they were just sitting on top of the ground." Father Loras Otting is the archivist for the Archdiocese of Dubuque. He says settlers first arrived in Dubuque in 1833, while Kelly’s Bluff Cemetery opened in 1839. Otting says in 1867, the bodies buried on Kelly’s Bluff were moved to a cemetery in the town of Key West, just south of Dubuque. Otting says it appears some of those bodies were accidentally left behind.

Otting says, "Bishop Loras did not arrive until 1839 so you have a gap of six years so people were dying of whatever and they had to bury them some place." The long-ago cemetery site is now the site of new life, a housing development is under construction. The River Pointe Condominiums are expected to be the tallest condos in Dubuque. 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest

Featured Stories

Reynolds signs her ‘school choice’ bill into law

Governor Reynolds touts 2024 Iowa Caucuses in Inaugural Address

University of Iowa grad presiding over U.S. House Speaker vote

Iowan who was oldest person in the U.S. dies

Iowa Lottery to start making some payments via debit cards

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa State names new receivers coach

No. 2 Iowa visits No. 1 Penn State in wrestling dual Friday night

Iowa’s Clark brings increased exposure to women’s basketball

No. 18 Iowa State women visit TCU

Northern Iowa men host Valparaiso

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC