Coming home from the Jefferson swap

[400brian]

On my way to the swap this Sat, I went by a State Park sign for Aztalan.

I knew it was near Lake Mills, but I had no idea it was so easy to get to.

So on the way home I drove through and took a couple of pictures. Someday I'll have to come back to walk the grounds and go through the museum.

Here's what it is all about:

[400brian]

The site is on the west bank of the Crawfish river, which runs into the Rock, which flows south to the Illinois River, which flows west then south through IL until it empties into the Mississippi north of St. Louis.

The main stone age city of this group was located near present day east St. Louis
( east side of Miss. river ). At the time indicated on the sign, that main city was larger than London, and they had thousands of acres of corn under cultivation there.

The Rock river flows south from the Horicon marsh, as rivers were the highways in those days, Aztalan was well positioned to trade with the local WI tribes for fur, hides, copper, jerky, or whatever.

The site has been reconstructed to a large degree. It was homesteaded, farmed, the mounds and stones used for fill dirt. No doubt every farm boy in the area scoured the site for arrowheads. It wasn't until the 1920s that the site was protected ( only a 100 years after it was recognized as ruins of a village ).