Angel Mounds in southwestern Indiana preserves the remains of a major Mississippian town that served as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Angel chiefdom along the Ohio River. Built after about AD 1000 and inhabited roughly from AD 1100 to AD 1450, it was the largest-known town of its time in what is now Indiana, with as many as 1,000 people, thirteen earthen mounds, hundreds of home sites, and a fortified palisade. The site was both a residential and ceremonial center tied to regional trade networks. Protected beginning in 1938, it became one of the best-preserved prehistoric sites in the United States for understanding Indigenous life before European contact.