The Angel Site, located along the Ohio River in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, has been the scene of archaeological exploration since the land was purchased from the Angel family and deeded to the Indiana Historical Society in 1938. The property was transfered to the State of Indiana in 1945 and today it is the Indiana Department of Natural Resources that has taken responsibility for protecting, managing, and interpreting this important prehistoric site. Indiana University, through the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, has been charged by our state to assume the responsibilities for archaeological research of this large and complex Mississippian site, as well as for the curation of the millions of artifacts that have been recovered.

The first scientific investigations at the Angel Site were conducted by Dr. Glenn A. Black in 1941 with the help of WPA workers. After the war, Indiana University students began coming to to site yearly for summer field school until 1962. Since that time, three field school excavations have been undertaken by Glenn A. Black Laboratory personnel. These investigations have yielded a wealth of information about Mississippian culture (900 A.D. to 1600 A.D.) in the Ohio Valley and have made significant contributions to the understanding of North American prehistory. Today the Angel Site remains one of the most intriguing and important archaeological sites in the eastern United States.