Mound and partial stockade fence of Aztalan, early Mississippian Culture community

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Mound and partial stockade fence of Aztalan, early Mississippian Culture community
Mound and partial stockade fence of Aztalan, early Mississippian Culture community

c. 900-1300 A.D.

Tens of thousands of stripped tree trunks were mounted to surround and intersect the Aztalan community. That was no small feat. These stockade fences, which have left round footprints in the ground, protected the residents of the town from outside invasion. It also seems to have separated gated elite sections from commoner neighborhoods within the settlement.

The innovators of Aztalan, c. 900-1300, a name that those of European ancestry gave to these ruins that partly incorporates the tourist-inviting name of Aztec, were among the first creators of the city and town living inventions of the Mississippian Culture communities. These innovators lived far to the north – in modern-day Wisconsin.

What happened to the entire civilization that dotted the eastern midwest and southeastern part of what would become the United States? It disappeared in a flash just as the first conquistadors reached the east coast of what would be the United States.

The advanced city and town life for the Mississippian Culture had a downside. Their interconnected settlements – the paths, waterways, and densely populated communities were perfect conduits and incubators of European disease when the first Europeans came. The few left living in their cities and townships finally fled for dear life.

The civilization was barely remembered among the North American tribes of nomad lifestyle in which their survivors assumedly fled. The record we have is from the ruins they left and the account from the south of conquistador Hernando de Soto, who battled against them (e.g. Coosa Cheifdom and others), dictated to their leaders, and lived in the homes of the Mississippian Culture elite. De Soto himself died of disease, described as a fever, near the western bank of the Mississippi River, near present-day Ferriday, Louisiana.

But Aztalan had long been abandoned by the time European disease devastated the Mississippian Culture. Had Aztalan farmers depleted the once-fertile soil here and so it was time to move on, build a new community elsewhere?

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Taken on: October 31, 2021
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Wisconsin Wisconsin Everybody's photos tagged with Native American history Native American history Everybody's photos tagged with Aztalan State Park Aztalan State Park more » Everybody's photos tagged with Aztalan Aztalan Everybody's photos tagged with Mississippian Culture Mississippian Culture Everybody's photos tagged with b&w photography b&w photography « less
Sets appears in:   • Ancient American Art, Mounds & Insights   
Groups appears in:   • Native America    • Flickr: History   
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