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

Research reveals that the mound axes at Angel Mounds, Indiana, align with the Milky Way during the summer solstice, suggesting a deliberate astronomic orientation tied to Eastern Woodlands cosmology. This finding parallels similar alignments observed at Cahokia and Moundville, reinforcing the cultural significance of celestial alignments in Mississippian settlements. The study employed lidar imagery, computer planetarium simulations, and ethnohistoric data to analyze solar, stellar, and lunar alignments, providing new insights into the astronomic practices of these ancient societies.

Romain, W. F., & Herrmann, E. W. (2022). An Archaeoastronomic Assessment of Angel Mounds, Indiana, with Commentary on Moundville, Alabama, and Cahokia, Illinois. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 47(1), 25–46. https://doi.org/10.5406/23274271.47.1.02