An Archaeoastronomic Assessment of Angel Mounds, Indiana, with Commentary on Moundville, Alabama, and Cahokia, Illinois

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11636242
AutoresWilliam F Romain (0000-0003-1177-248X, Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, autor de correspondencia), Edward W Herrmann (0000-0003-3121-1639, Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bloomington, Indiana, USA)
Año2022
Volumen47
Número1
Páginas25-46
Fecha de publicación2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMidcontinental Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0146-1109 • E-ISSN: 2327-4271
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.5406/23274271.47.1.02
OpenAlexW4312524594
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas15

The Angel Mounds site was a large, fortified Mississippian village located in southwestern Indiana. The site flourished from circa AD 1100 to AD 1450 and represents one of the largest recorded Mississippian settlements in the Ohio River valley. In this article, we use astronomic data, lidar imagery, ethnohistoric data, and computer planetarium simulations to identify solar, stellar, and lunar alignments at the site. Of special interest are new findings showing how mound axes are oriented to the Milky Way on the night of the summer solstice. In traditional Eastern Woodlands belief, the Milky Way was the path that souls of the dead traveled on their journey to the Land of the Dead. Supportive of the findings for Angel are similar Milky Way alignments at Moundville, Alabama, and Cahokia, Illinois

Archaeology · Colluvium · Geography · Human settlement · Milky Way · Planetarium · Solstice · Woodland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Historical and Architectural Studies · Paleontology