In 1939, jobless men digging for dollars found an ancient metropolis hiding in Indiana

Glenn Black’s Revolutionary WPA Dig at Angel Mounds

When the Great Depression hit, jobs dried up. But in Indiana, dirt flew.

From 1939 to 1942, archaeologist Glenn Black led 277 jobless men at Angel Mounds in a dig that changed American archaeology forever.

The WPA workers, mostly untrained locals from Evansville, uncovered a lost Mississippian civilization while earning much-needed pay.

Black taught them his “block technique” and strict “keep everything” rule that soon set new standards. Together, they dug up 2.3 million artifacts from 120,000 square feet of ancient settlement.

Angel Mounds State Historic Site now stands as both a monument to Native American history and Depression-era innovation you can explore firsthand.

Wall Street Crash Left Millions Jobless in 1929

The 1929 stock market crash threw America into economic chaos. Millions lost jobs as businesses failed nationwide.

Indiana got hit hard, with jobless rates reaching 25% in some areas. Evansville factory workers watched as plants closed down.

Farmers struggled to keep their land as crop prices tanked. Cities had breadlines while country families ate whatever they could grow.

Banks failed, wiping out people’s savings. The country needed help fast.

FDR Created Jobs Through the WPA in 1935

President Roosevelt started the Works Progress Administration in 1935 to get Americans working again. The WPA hired jobless people for public projects like roads, bridges, schools, and parks.

Archaeological digs made perfect WPA projects since they needed many workers but little equipment. The program paid fair wages for work that saved American heritage.

By 1939, the WPA gave jobs to over 3 million people across the country. For struggling families, these government jobs meant they could eat.

Eli Lilly Saved Angel Mounds From Bulldozers

Drug company owner Eli Lilly stepped in to save Angel Mounds from destruction in 1938. The ancient Native American site near Evansville faced threats from builders and a planned river levee.

Lilly gave money to the Indiana Historical Society to buy 480 acres of farmland with the prehistoric settlement. The land cost $68,000 (about $1.3 million today). Farmers had plowed parts of the site for years, harming the ancient structures.

Lilly acted just in time to save what remained of this 1,000-year-old site.

The Self-Taught Archaeologist Moved Onsite

Glenn Black took over the Angel Mounds project without any formal training in archaeology. He learned by doing and reading everything he could find.

Black and his wife Ida moved into a farmhouse on the property in spring 1939 to run the massive project. He teamed up with the WPA to get federal money and workers.

Black spent months planning the dig, making detailed maps and grids of the site. His careful nature and fresh ideas made him the right leader for this groundbreaking project.

Hundreds of Jobless Men Found Work Digging Up History

The WPA hired 277 unemployed men from Evansville to work at Angel Mounds starting in April 1939. Most came from construction or factory jobs with no experience in archaeology.

The typical worker was 38 years old with a family to feed. They earned about $55 monthly (about $1,050 today).

Many walked miles to the site daily to save bus money. The project became the biggest archaeological workforce ever put together in Indiana.

These men gained special skills while earning steady pay during the worst economic crisis in American history.

Black’s "Keep Everything" Rule Changed Archaeology Forever

Glenn Black brought new methods that changed how digs worked in America.

His “block technique” meant carefully digging in measured squares and tracking the exact spot of every find. Black made workers keep everything they found, no matter how small or plain it looked.

This broke from normal practice where diggers often threw away items they thought worthless. He took photos and kept detailed notes, creating a complete record of the dig process.

Workers Uncovered 120,000 Square Feet of Ancient City

The huge dig at Angel Mounds covered an area bigger than two football fields. Workers focused on the East Village area and the important Mound F temple.

They used shovels, trowels, brushes, and screens to carefully remove soil layer by layer. They recorded each artifact’s exact location.

During winter, work moved indoors to clean and catalog the growing collection. Black demanded perfect detail throughout the process.

The team built labs onsite to handle the huge amount of materials coming from the ground daily.

The Temple Mound Revealed Sacred Mississippian Secrets

Spring 1940 brought big breakthroughs at Mound F, a temple platform in the middle of the ancient city. Workers found the remains of a large ceremonial building on top of the flat-topped mound.

In November 1940, the team uncovered a rare carved stone statue of a seated man. The dig showed the mound had been built in several stages over hundreds of years.

The temple area held special ritual objects not found in other parts of the settlement.

Millions of Artifacts Told the Story of a Lost Civilization

The Angel Mounds team found an amazing 2. 3 million artifacts during the three-year project.

They uncovered over 300 burials, mostly in the eastern village area.

The collection included pottery, stone tools, shell ornaments, and copper items from faraway places. Workers found traces of houses, walls, and daily life in this pre-Columbus city.

The artifacts showed the Mississippian people traded widely across North America. Workers cleaned, numbered, and listed each item in an organized way.

World War II Stopped the Shovels in 1942

The Pearl Harbor attack and America joining World War II suddenly ended the Angel Mounds project. The WPA money stopped in May 1942 as the government sent resources to the war effort.

Many workers joined the military or took jobs in defense plants making much higher pay. The archaeological work stopped with several areas still not dug.

Glenn and Ida Black stayed as caretakers of the site and its artifacts throughout the war years. They focused on protecting the collections and sorting through the mountain of materials already found.

Angel Mounds Became America’s Archaeological Gold Standard

Glenn Black’s work at Angel Mounds transformed how archaeologists approach their field. His methodical techniques became standard practice across America.

Indiana University established a summer field school at the site in 1945, training generations of new archaeologists. Black continued working at Angel Mounds until his death in 1964.

The state of Indiana took over the site in 1946, eventually creating a state historic site open to visitors. In 1965, Indiana University founded the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology to honor his contributions.

His detailed report on the excavations, published after his death, remains a foundational text in American archaeology.

Visiting Angel Mounds, Indiana

Angel Mounds at 8901 Pollack Avenue in Evansville showcases the massive WPA excavation where Glenn Black led 277 unemployed men from 1939-1942, uncovering over 2. 3 million artifacts from a lost Mississippian civilization.

You can explore 11 original earthen mounds across 600 acres and visit the new $6. 5 million interpretive center.

Admission costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for children. The site is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am to 5pm with self-guided tours available.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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