Home›Open Questions›Who built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, and when?Open QuestionsWho built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, and when?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Who built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, and when?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/open-questions-index/who-built-the-bighorn-medicine-wheel-and-when.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Who built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, and when?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/open-questions-index/who-built-the-bighorn-medicine-wheel-and-whenCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-who-built-the-bighorn-medicine-wheel-and, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Who built the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, and when?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/open-questions-index/who-built-the-bighorn-medicine-wheel-and-when}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionThe structure is stone laid on the ground surface, so it carries no stratigraphy and cannot be dated directly. Cairns have been added to and rebuilt by users over an unknown period, and material recovered at the site has returned a wide spread of dates. Estimates in the literature run from a few centuries to several thousand years. The builders are equally open: the Plains nations now associated with the site did not all occupy the Bighorn country at the same time, and Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone and Lakota traditions each connect the wheel to their own history.What would resolve this A securely associated context: a buried feature or datable deposit beneath an undisturbed part of the structure, excavated with the consent of the associated nations and dated on material demonstrably contemporary with construction rather than with later use.OpenArchaeology, working with the associated Plains nations; archaeoastronomy for the alignment claimsJohn A. Eddy, Astronomical Alignment of the Big Horn Medicine WheelCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnBighorn Medicine Wheel, Sacred Sites Well-attested Source Astronomical Alignment of the Big Horn Medicine WheelJohn A. Eddytier 1SourcesAstronomical Alignment of the Big Horn Medicine Wheeltier 1John A. Eddy, Science, vol. 184, no. 4141, 1974View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year