Around 1200 CE, Aztalan's palisade walls were rebuilt then burned to the ground—possibly by local effigy mound people. Inside, a secondary wall with watchtowers divided a cluster of houses, hinting at social tensions. Seventy corn storage pits lined a tiered platform, a feature Cahokia never built 🌽
Evidence of internal division and destruction at Aztalan
Site mentioned
📍 Aztalan
Key facts
- A regional survey in the 1980s documented approximately 500 Late Woodland sites around Aztalan with roundhouses and local ceramics, few Mississippian artifacts
- A secondary wall with watchtowers divided a cluster of houses from the rest inside Aztalan, indicating social divisions
- Some circular houses were built within Aztalan's walls alongside rectangular Mississippian-style homes
- Seventy storage pits, each 2 m deep and 2 m in diameter, were built into a sculptured tiered platform off the main plaza, used for storing corn
- Cahokia never built similar corn storage features
- Around 1200 CE, Aztalan rebuilt its palisade walls, which were subsequently burned to the ground, possibly by local effigy mound people
Sources
Ancient Aztalan, WI: A Diverse Communityschroeder.labs.wisc.edu
Ancient Aztalan is a prehistoric Native American village in southern Wisconsin that was occupied between 800-1000 years ago.
Aztalanhmdb.org
Indian people lived at Aztalan between AD 900 and 1200. The village encompassed 20 acres and was well-planned. (A historical marker located near Lake Mills ...
Aztalan Site Historympm.edu
1984: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee conducts archaeological excavations in habitation areas of Aztalan, which includes a large garbage midden ...
Late Woodland Pottery In Wisconsin As Seen From Aztalancore.tdar.org
Late Woodland Pottery In Wisconsin As Seen From Aztalan. Author(s): David A. Baerreis; Joan E. Freeman. Year: 1958. Summary. This resource is a ...
(PDF) The Woodland and Mississippian traditions in ...researchgate.net
Significant changes in prehistoric subsistence systems, settlement patterns, and sociopolitical organization are reviewed within a three-division framework, ...
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