Not far from Sheridan sits one of the best-known and least-understood archaeological sites in America, the Medicine Wheel. This particular site of the most elaborate of a series of stone circles found east of the Rock Mountains. Measuring 80 feet across, with 28 rock spokes radiating out from a central hub that is 13 feet in diameter, with six smaller rock cairns (kerns) scattered around the rim. A variety of lesser-known rock structures surround the Medicine Wheel on nearby slopes, including an arrow that point southwest to another "wheel" near Meeteetse (70 miles away), a large rectangle of stones, and more than 50 teepee rings. An ancient Cairn-marked travois trail continues northwest from Medicine Wheel over the Big Horn Mountains.

The medicine wheel has been variously interpreted and attributed to all sorts of folks - Aztecs, Celtics, Pueblo Indians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and even the Masons. None of these is the least bit likely, but nobody has come up with an adequate explanation for the wheel. Prospectors from the nearby gold-mining camp of Bald Mountain City (now entirely gone) discovered the Medicine Wheel around 1885. Various reports have attributed it to the Crow, Sheepeater, Arapaho, or Cheyenne tribes. In 1958, an archaeologist dated bits of wood found in one of the cairns to approximately 1760. The rocks have probably been here for at least that long.

Prevailing theories about the purpose behind the Medicine Wheel seem to fall into two schools; that it was an astronomical observatory, or that it was a site for sacred ceremonies. One of the most interesting theories was suggested by astronomer John Eddy in a 1977 National Geographic article. He noted that the 28 spokes are equal to the number of days in the lunar calendar and that two of the cairns served as horizon markers for sunrise and sunset, with the other four cairns marking the rising of three of the brightest stars. These could have signaled the summer solstice. Interestingly, similar alignments occur on a stone wheel in Saskatchewan, Canada. Other scientists counter that the Indians would have little reason to care exactly about when summer solstice occurred since they were not farmers, and that the rocks probably served some religious function.

A wire fence surrounding the wheel is frequently festooned with strips of cloth, feathers, bells, herbs, flowers, and other offerings left behind by Indians who come here on various sacred ceremonies and celebrations. They are particularly evident following solstices and equinoxes. Please respect the importance of this religious site by not disturbing these items.