The people of the Middle Mississippian culture built and lived in a community in what became southwestern Indiana around AD 1100 and remained there until AD 1450,a period that Marjory Honerkamp defined in the 1970s as the Angel phase.
The Angel phase and the Mississippian town are named after the Angel family, who in 1852 began purchasing farmland that included the archaeological site.
Archeologist Sherri Hilgeman and others have used the distinctive pottery produced at the Angel site and in other satellite communities in this section of the Ohio River valley to define the Angel phase as the middle period between the Emergent Mississippian Yankeetown phase (AD 750 to AD 1000) and the Terminal Mississippian Caborn-Wellborn phase (AD 1400 to AD 1700).

The Angel chiefdom (a simple hierarchy led by a chief)
the regional trading center in a group of communities within 12 miles (19 km) of the Ohio River valley and extended as far as the Green River in present-day Kentucky.
The large residential and agricultural community was also the political, cultural, and economic center of the chiefdom, whose residents traded with other chiefdoms and peoples along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
The Angel community primarily inhabited an area bounded by the Ohio River to the south, the White River and its East Fork to the north, the Wabash River to the west, and the Anderson River to the east.
Archaeologists have inferred that the smaller communities (villages, hamlets, farmsteads and camp sites) were politically subordinate to the main Angel site.
Continuing excavations at the site reveal new elements of the complex society.

Laborers built the main Angel site sometime after AD 1000.
They also established the surrounding villages and farming areas along the Ohio River and engaged in hunting and farming on the rich bottom lands.
In addition, the Mississippian culture is known for its 
earthen mounds, with shapes including platform, conical, and ridgetop (as also seen at Cahokia).
Working with a variety of soils to create a stable mass, the Mississippian people built major earthworks at the Angel site.
The community eventually covered about 100 acres (40 hectares) and included thirteen mounds near the Ohio River.
Some of these mounds were built for ceremonial and cosmological purposes.
In addition to the mounds, the Mississippians constructed structures and a defensive palisade (stockade]] made of wattle and daub with 12-foot (3.7 m) walls and punctuated with bastions.
This settlement was the largest-known town of its time in what became present-day Indiana.
Scholars also believe the town may have had as many as 1,000 inhabitants at its peak, which Indiana archeologist Glenn Albert Black estimated to be about 200 households.

Archaeologists believe that the Angel community existed from around AD 1100 to around AD 1450, although estimates for the site vary from AD 1000 to AD 1600.
Carbon dating of the community indicats its existence as early as AD 1200 and as late as AD 1500.

The Mississippian people abandoned the Angel site long before European contact; however, it is not known for certain why the Angel civilization declined.
Scholars have speculated that it was potentially due to environmental factors, such as an extended regional drought that reduced the maize (corn) surpluses, increasingly scarce natural resources 
that had enabled the concentration of population.
In addition, the people may have 
overhunting and reducing forests through the consumption of wood for constructing buildings and making fires.
Archaeologists also theorize that with the collapse of the Angel chiefdom by AD 1450, many of the site's inhabitants relocated downriver to the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash rivers.
A separate Late Mississippian cultural group subsequently emerged that archeologists named the Terminal Mississippian Caborn-Welborn phase (AD 1400 to AD 1700).
The people of the Middle Mississippian culture built and lived in a community in what became southwestern Indiana around AD 1100 and remained there until AD 1450,a period that Marjory Honerkamp defined in the 1970s as the Angel phase. The Angel phase and the Mississippian town are named after the Angel family, who in 1852 began purchasing farmland that included the archaeological site. Archeologist Sherri Hilgeman and others have used the distinctive pottery produced at the Angel site and in other satellite communities in this section of the Ohio River valley to define the Angel phase as the middle period between the Emergent Mississippian Yankeetown phase (AD 750 to AD 1000) and the Terminal Mississippian Caborn-Wellborn phase (AD 1400 to AD 1700).
The Angel chiefdom (a simple hierarchy led by a chief)
the regional trading center in a group of communities within 12 miles (19 km) of the Ohio River valley and extended as far as the Green River in present-day Kentucky. The large residential and agricultural community was also the political, cultural, and economic center of the chiefdom, whose residents traded with other chiefdoms and peoples along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The Angel community primarily inhabited an area bounded by the Ohio River to the south, the White River and its East Fork to the north, the Wabash River to the west, and the Anderson River to the east. Archaeologists have inferred that the smaller communities (villages, hamlets, farmsteads and camp sites) were politically subordinate to the main Angel site. Continuing excavations at the site reveal new elements of the complex society.
Laborers built the main Angel site sometime after AD 1000. They also established the surrounding villages and farming areas along the Ohio River and engaged in hunting and farming on the rich bottom lands. In addition, the Mississippian culture is known for its 
earthen mounds, with shapes including platform, conical, and ridgetop (as also seen at Cahokia). Working with a variety of soils to create a stable mass, the Mississippian people built major earthworks at the Angel site. The community eventually covered about 100 acres (40 hectares) and included thirteen mounds near the Ohio River. Some of these mounds were built for ceremonial and cosmological purposes. In addition to the mounds, the Mississippians constructed structures and a defensive palisade (stockade]] made of wattle and daub with 12-foot (3.7 m) walls and punctuated with bastions. This settlement was the largest-known town of its time in what became present-day Indiana. Scholars also believe the town may have had as many as 1,000 inhabitants at its peak, which Indiana archeologist Glenn Albert Black estimated to be about 200 households.
Archaeologists believe that the Angel community existed from around AD 1100 to around AD 1450, although estimates for the site vary from AD 1000 to AD 1600. Carbon dating of the community indicats its existence as early as AD 1200 and as late as AD 1500.
The Mississippian people abandoned the Angel site long before European contact; however, it is not known for certain why the Angel civilization declined. Scholars have speculated that it was potentially due to environmental factors, such as an extended regional drought that reduced the maize (corn) surpluses, increasingly scarce natural resources 
that had enabled the concentration of population. In addition, the people may have 
overhunting and reducing forests through the consumption of wood for constructing buildings and making fires. Archaeologists also theorize that with the collapse of the Angel chiefdom by AD 1450, many of the site's inhabitants relocated downriver to the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. A separate Late Mississippian cultural group subsequently emerged that archeologists named the Terminal Mississippian Caborn-Welborn phase (AD 1400 to AD 1700).
Angel Mounds