At the top of the Bighorn Range in Wyoming, 9,642 feet above sea level, is an incredible monument.  A stone circle can be observed, built by Native Americans many years ago.  It is called the Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  I had the privilege of traveling to the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in the summer of 2004.  The visit was very moving.

Bighorn Medicine Wheel impressed me for several reasons.  When I made the journey to the top of the mountain to view this special place, I was struck by its impressive nature.  Here in such a beautiful setting as this, one feels very close to nature.  God created a truly wonderful world and there are certain times and certain places where God’s presence and work have filled my heart.  This was one such time and place.  This was a very spiritual place for me.  Secondly, the enormity of the undertaking that faced the ancient builders was most impressive to me.  The task would have most certainly been daunting.  This is a remote location.  The amount of effort to design such a stone circle and align it with particular celestial events would have required tremendous patience and determination.

I wished to recognize both the spiritual and physical aspects of this special place by choosing this project.  The purpose of the model is to demonstrate how the builders aligned the stones with the appearances of certain stars and the rising and setting sun on the Summer Solstice.  I also hope that this model, in some small way, directs attention to the special uniqueness of this place. 

My initial work on this project involved research.  I utilized internet resources and text books.  I located several websites devoted entirely to Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  Much of what we know about the astronomical alignments of the site is due to the painstaking research and observations of astronomer Dr. John Eddy.  I followed diagrams he drew to illustrate the celestial alignments of the stones.

The stones of the wheel itself are represented in the model by small rocks used on the parking lot at Laurel-Concord Public School.  My fifth grade science class collected them from the parking lot for use in the construction of the model.  I first made an overhead of the layout of Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  I then traced a projection of the overhead on a piece of poster board.  It was on this poster board that I attached the small rocks.  I used a hot glue gun to accomplish this.  Next, placed the poster board at the bottom of a box.  The sides of the box would serve as the surrounding skies.  Finally, I used colored yarn to demonstrate the alignments of both the stars and rising and setting sun on the Summer Solstice with points on the stone circle.

I took care to attempt to recreate both the design and purpose of Bighorn Medicine Wheel.  The twenty-eight spokes of the circle are represented in the model, as well as the six outer cairns and the center cairn of stones. It is my hope that the small stones used in the model will provide a visual reference to this most impressive place.

The Native Americans took a very special interest in the paths of the sun, moon, and stars through the sky.  Living very close to nature, they found great comfort in the predictable movements of these extraterrestrial bodies.  Ray A. Williamson, in his book Living The Sky: The Cosmos Of The American Indian pointed out the special importance of the sun. “They feared that if the sun did not begin to move back again, the fields would remain frozen and unsuitable for planting, and all living things would die.”  (p.40)

Perhaps due in part to this fear, Native Americans became very adept and able astronomers, marking the yearly path of the sun across the ecliptic.  As the Earth travels in its orbit around the sun, the sun appears to shift positions on the horizon throughout the year.  On the first day of winter, the sun sets the farthest south it will ever reach.  This day is referred to as the Winter Solstice.  It is on this day that the sun stops its southern motion.  The word “solstice” literally means “sun stand still.”  From this day on, the sun appears to move back in a northerly direction along the horizon.  On the first days of spring and summer, the sun reaches the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. On these two particular days the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west.  The word “equinox” means “equal day and night” for on these days there are exactly twelve hours of light and twelve hours of night.  Finally, the sun appears to travel to its northernmost destination on the horizon.  This is the Summer Solstice.

As the sun traveled its apparent course through the skies, the Native Americans followed it closely.  Much evidence exists of structures whose purposes were to mark the Summer Solstice.  Most noteworthy is the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.  Williamson describes Bighorn Medicine Wheel:

At an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet…it lies in an excellent location for sky watching…made by laboriously gathering numerous stones that lie about on the grassy terrain and piling them up in the wheel-like pattern.  At its center lies a doughnut-shaped cairn nearly 10 feet in diameter, which is connected to the outer circle by twenty-eight spoke-like straight lines.  Six peripheral cairns, five outside the rim and one just inside, complete the pattern.  These are much less massive than the central cairn, being only one to two courses high and 4 to 6 feet in diameter. (p. 201)

On the Summer Solstice, astronomer John Eddy observed both sunrise and sunset at the Medicine Wheel. Eddy observed sunrise by standing at cairn E and sighting a line through the center cairn.  In a similar manner, he observed sunset by standing at cairn C and sighting a line through the center cairn.  These alignments are designated by orange yarn in the model.  Eddy noted that these alignments only occurred with Summer Solstice, since deep snow covered the mountaintop during the Winter Solstice, making observations at that time impossible.  (Williamson, p. 203) 

Eddy also established the heliacal risings of several stars which the Native Americans considered important.  The term “heliacal” refers to the rising of a star or planet just before the sun.  (Moeschl, p. 43)  The heliacal rising of a star is important because it helps pinpoint a date exactly.  These risings would have acted as solstice markers for the Native Americans.  (Stanford Solar Center) 

Standing at cairn F, four heliacal star risings can be seen.  The rising of the star Aldebaran, of the constellation Taurus, is observed over cairn A.  The rising of the star Rigel, of the constellation Orion, is observed over cairn B.  The rising of the star Sirius, of the constellation Canis Major, is observed over cairn C.  The rising of the star Fomalhaut, of the constellation Piscis, the Southern Fish, is observed over cairn D.  These alignments are marked by white yarn in the model.

The rising of the star Fomalhaut came about twenty-eight days before the solstice, while the rising of the star Aldebaran preceded the Summer Solstice by two days. The star Rigel appeared twenty-eight days after the solstice and the star Sirius appeared twenty-eight days after the heliacal rising of Rigel.  Aldebaran would certainly have been considered an exciting and important harbinger to the Native American astronomers at Medicine Wheel due to its closeness the solstice itself.

The exact date of origin of this wonderful monument and the identity of its builders is not known for certain.  Dorcas S. Miller placed the construction by “people who lived before the arrival of Euro-Americans and their metal tools.”  (p. 261)  Other archaeologists date its construction over a period of hundreds of years sometime during the last 1500 years.  This is based on other evidence found in the area, such as tipi rings and a system of trails that lead to the site.  Other evidence of sweat lodges and Native American activity can be found in the surrounding area as well.  (http://wyomuseum.state.wy.us/answers/April00MedWheel.html)

Yet there is a very spiritual aspect to this place as well.  I sensed it myself as I visited it.  There is special symbolism associated with the circle.  Nancy Gillis noted this in her essay on the spiritual aspects of medicine wheels.  “The circle is universal, it is the shape of power.  The circular is all continuing, all encompassing; the Great Wheel of Hinduism, the Circle of Life, the Medicine Wheel, the Mandala, the Sacred Hoop.”   Gillis also pointed out that, “At the very core of this Sacred Hoop and the sense of the circular, and the symbolism of the directions and powers, is our very human spiritual need for such symbols and ritual.”  (Gillis essay)

It is also noteworthy to make a connection between the twenty-eight day time frames of these stars to the sacred significance of the number twenty-eight to the Native Americans.  An immediate connection can be seen to the twenty-eight spokes in Medicine Wheel circle.  The special significance of the number twenty-eight can also be observed elsewhere in the twenty-eight rafters in the roof of the Lakota Sundance Lodge.  Some astronomers see a further connection with the twenty-eight days in the lunar cycle.  (Stanford Solar Center)

Today efforts are being made to conserve this sacred site.  It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.  Several area Native American tribes as well as federal and state agencies help to manage the site.  It is the distinct hope to preserve this special place for generations to come.

Please click on the following link for more pictures:  Big Horn Medicine Wheel

Bibliography:

Gillis, Nancy  Essay on the Sacred Hoop   2004

Miller, Dorcas  Stars of the First People   Pruett Publishing Company  Boulder, Colorado         1997

Moeschl, Richard   Exploring The Sky    Chicago Review Press  Chicago, Illinois  1993

Williamson, Ray A.   Living The Sky: The Cosmos Of The AmericanIndian  University of    Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University 1984