Highlights Archives
Aztlanahuac: Mesoamerica in North America
Many Mesoamerican place names in the United States, such as Aztec, Anahuac, Tula and others, have traditionally been attributed to the romanticism of 19th century United States archaeologists. A recent research effort challenging that view is the topic of an exhibit and symposium at the Wisconsin Historical Society in April. Scholars from a variety of disciplines are exploring possible cartographic, linguistic, agricultural, and cultural evidence connecting the peoples of North and South America.
The exhibit in the lobby of the Society headquarters building presents maps from the 1500s through the 1800s that suggest possible pre-Columbian points of migration of the Aztec/Mexica peoples. The exhibit also includes maps of Cahokia, a corn-based culture centered near St. Louis from 900-1100 A.D. that had its northern outposts in Wisconsin, at the misnamed Aztalan in Jefferson County and along the Upper Mississippi River.
The exhibit will be accompanied by a symposium on April 16, 2005, at which this research will be summarized and discussed. The documentary film "San Ce Tojuan" (We are One), by Roberto Rodriguez and Patricia Gonzales, will also be shown. More materials, including chronicles and codices, are on display in the entrance lobby of the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Library.
For more information on the exhibit and the symposium, as well as links to additional evidence about possible pre-Columbian connections between North and South America, go to the Aztlanahuac Exhibit web page. To see 19th-century books, maps, manuscripts, and articles about Wisconsin archaeology, including primary sources on the Mississippian sites of Aztalan and Trempealeau Bluffs, visit the Mississippian Culture page in the Society’s online collection, Turning Points in Wisconsin History.
:: Posted April 8, 2005
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