At least two domed-shaped Indian mounds - estimated to be about 2,000 years old - have been added to a larger protected area of burial sites along the Wisconsin River in Columbia County.

The Natural Heritage Land Trust and Ho-Chunk Nation purchased about three acres adjacent to the Kingsley Bend Mound Group south of Wisconsin Dells on Highway 16 from a private land owner for $22,800. The purchase was finalized last week.

The mound group includes about a dozen dome-shaped mounds and six linear mounds, in addition to bear, panther and bird-shaped burial sites.

"The Kingsley Bend area contains a 2,000-year-old cultural landscape where large domed shaped mounds are encircled by earthen birds that swoop toward the Wisconsin River and bear shaped mounds that prowl along the ridges," state archaeologist John H. Broihahn said in a news release. "The preservation of this ancient landscape of Native American burial mounds is important because over 80 percent of the Native American burial mounds reported for Wisconsin have been destroyed over the last 170 years."

The idea is to "try to put the whole cultural landscape back together," he said of the additional three acres. "You have this really beautifully crafted and sculptured natural landscape."

Officials said the newly purchased land also will buffer the main mound group from incompatible development, such as farm expansions or housing developments.

"Over the years we've lost about 80 percent of all of the Native American burial mound groups that existed in Wisconsin," Broihahn said.

Plans call for improving public access to the additional three acres and possibly extending hiking trails for appreciation of the mounds, according to the news release. The Ho-Chunk Nation acquired the mounds from the state Department of Transportation in 2007 when the state closed the rest area there. Since then the Nation has been removing trees from the property so the mounds are more visible.

The area is believed to have originally held more than 20 mounds, which form various symbols including the natural realms of air, earth and water. Throughout the area, are mounds in shapes of bears, birds, water spirits and snakes, which correspond to the clans of the Ho-Chunk Nation.