Medicine Wheel

12/01/2025

Set beneath towering limestone cliffs near Hyattville, the Medicine Lodge Archaeological Site is one of Wyoming’s most significant places of continuous human history. More than 10,000 years of Indigenous presence are recorded here through rock art panels, ancient campsites, and layered deposits that reveal hunting traditions, storytelling, artistry, and everyday life. Today, the site is stewarded by Wyoming State Parks, which protects its cultural resources while welcoming visitors to explore its trails, rock art, and interpretive areas.

Thank you for joining us throughout this five-part series celebrating Wyoming’s Indigenous cultural sites. Recognizing and preserving these places honors the deep histories, living traditions, and enduring relationships between Native peoples and this land: an essential part of protecting Wyoming’s past, present, and future.

11/29/2025

11/26/2025

This week, we are celebrating the historic sites across Wyoming that tell the story of the Indigenous Peoples who call the region home.

High atop the Bighorn Mountains sits the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, one of the most significant Indigenous sacred sites in North America. Estimated to be over 10,000 years old, it has 28 spokes and surrounding cairns that reflect deep astronomical knowledge and ceremonial traditions still honored by many Tribal Nations today. The site is cared for collaboratively by the U.S. Forest Service and representatives from regional Tribes, who work together to ensure its protection, cultural integrity, and respectful visitor access. In summer months, visitors can walk the quiet, mile-long trail to the wheel and experience the place on foot, guided by posted information and longstanding etiquette. Preserving the Medicine Wheel, and all Indigenous heritage sites, is vital to protecting the cultural traditions, stories, and sacred landscapes that continue to shape Wyoming.

11/21/2025

Language is more than words, it’s a way of seeing the world. ✋

Through our Plains Indian Sign Language (Hand Talk) project, Wyoming Humanities works to preserve an endangered yet powerful form of communication that once connected tribes across the Great Plains.

We honor the work of Eastern Shoshone elder Willie LeClair, whose vision and voice continue to inspire this preservation effort. His legacy reminds us that the humanities help keep culture, and connection alive.

🎥 Watch the video series: YouTube Playlist

🔗 Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qoDqS6

11/11/2025

Our hearts ache as we announce the passing of John Kinsel Sr., a cherished elder and one of the immortal Navajo Code Talkers. At 107, he leaves behind a legacy of unbreakable bravery forged in the fires of Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. From 1942 to 1946, as a U.S. Marine, he wielded his sacred language, the uncrackable code, to weave the vital communications that defied the enemy and tipped the scales of World War II. 🕊️🇺🇸

11/09/2025

With each generation we evolve, let go of destructive habits, and become more loving. The value of good parenting is priceless in our world!

11/03/2025

Native elk reintroduced to Sierra foothills after 17,000 acres are returned to California tribe

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-tule-river-tribe-land-back-21129854.php

10/23/2025

More than 100 circular stone monuments have been found throughout the Rocky Mountains, but the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming is the best preserved and among the largest. Since the site was first described, archaeologists have sought to discover when and why the wheel was built. Oral histories from the Shoshone and Crow are helping answer these questions!

archaeology.org/issues/november-december-2025/off-the-grid/bighorn-medicine-wheel-wyoming/

(📸 Lee Rentz/Alamy)