City on the River
Location: William Mathers Gallery
Opening: April 12, 2025
Curators: Angel Mounds Exhibition Advisory Council in collaboration with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
A community established themselves on the banks of a powerful river over 900 years ago. The Indigenous Peoples in this community grew corn and other crops, hunted game, and fished to sustain their families. They took great care to honor the land and to observe the cyclical journeys of the sun, moon, and stars.
The Indigenous Peoples built sturdy walls to protect their relatives and great mounds of earth. These structures were designed to align with the movements of the sky – the sun, stars, and moon. Then, after 300 years of continuous inhabitation, the Indigenous Peoples of this great town decided to leave their fields and mounds behind.
This site is currently known as Angel Mounds. We are not completely sure what the Indigenous Peoples called their community, but through collaboration with Indigenous descendant peoples it was decided to call this community the City on the River.
The Museum will showcase the story of the City on the River in an upcoming exhibition opening in April 2025. City on the River is the culmination of several years of close partnership and collaboration with the Angel Mounds Exhibition Advisory Council, which includes members of living Indigenous descendant communities ancestrally connected to the site and for whom the site still holds significance. The exhibition will tell the story of the People who lived there through material culture from the site, an immersive virtual reality experience, connections to the stories of contemporary culture-bearers, and art from Indigenous descendant communities.