Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
Mississippian Culture and Aztalan
About the same time that Viking settlers founded colonies in Greenland and Canada, carriers of a new culture appeared in Wisconsin. Archaeologists call their culture "Middle Mississippian." About AD 1000, emigrants left the ceremonial center of Cahokia, across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, and built new towns in northern Illinois. Shortly afterwards, Middle Mississippians moved up the Mississippi and Rock River valleys into Wisconsin.
At its peak, between AD 1100 and 1200, Cahokia was a massive community with a population of between ten thousand and forty thousand (larger than London, Paris, or Rome at the time). The city centered... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | A visitor publishes the first description of Aztalan in 1837. |
| The first careful investigation of Wisconsin mounds is published in 1838. |
| The second scholarly attempt to map and explain the mounds (1842) |
| A Mormon writer theorizes about the origins of Aztalan in 1845 |
| An 1839 visitor credits Aztalan to ancient foreigners |
 | Cyrus Thomas proves in 1894 that Indians built the effigy mounds. |
 | Photographs of Aztalan in August, 2004 |
| Oneota cultivated fields near Lake Winnebago. |
| Increase Lapham examining a meteorite, ca. 1868 |
 | An early settler tries to investigate Aztalan in 1838. |
| Archaeologist Increase Lapham writes home from the field. |
| An 1838 letter describes Aztalan |
.