THE CONSTRUCTION, USE, AND ABANDONMENT OF ANGEL SITE MOUND A: TRACING THE HISTORY OF A MIDDLE MISSISSIPPIAN TOWN THROUGH ITS EARTH WORKS

• Published in: American antiquity Vol. 75; no. 4; p. 935
• Main Authors: Monaghan, G William, Peebles, Christopher S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Cambridge University Press 01-10-2010
• Subjects: Archaeology; History; Occupations; Towns; Mississippi
• ISSN: 0002-7316; 2325-5064

Mound A is the largest platform mound at the Angel site (12VG1), a Middle Mississippian town along the Ohio River in southwestern Indiana, and consists of an upper and lower platform joined by an offset conical peak. Solid-earth cores, geo-physical data, and 14C ages indicate that mound construction began at 900 B. P. by stacking 10-15 cm-thick turf blocks two meters high at the junction of the upper-lower platform and that by 890 B. P. the upper platform was built to nearly its full 8m height. The dates from Mound A are among the earliest recorded from the site, which implies that earthwork construction coincided with the initial occupation of the site and was among the first construction tasks undertaken. Cultural features associated with a structure partly buried under the conical offset on the upper platform of Mound A yielded 14C ages of 750-520 B.P., which show that the upper platform surface was probably used throughout occupation. As also occurred on Mound F (the only other platform mound investigated at the site), the Mound A structure was destroyed and covered with afresh layer of fill just before site abandonment. This final filling episode to cap the mounds may have been part of a "ceremonial closing" of the site. The youngest dates from the structures buried on Mounds A and F, as well as others across the site, suggest that the Angel site was essentially abandoned by 500 B.P., which also corresponds with the abandonment of Mississippian sites throughout the region. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]