Events Calendar
Annual Meeting, January: Each January the Friends of Aztalan have their annual meeting. We start with complimentary hospitality beer and wine followed by a modestly priced, locally catered dinner. After the short annual meeting there is a presentation about the Mississippian culture. We hold our meeting at the The Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson. Their Mystery of the Mounds exhibit is open for us. The public is invited!! Check back for details of this pleasant annual event.
Native American Garden: This is the third year that the Friends planted and are maintaining the Tom Davies Memorial Native American garden at Aztalan State Park.
May - September Sunday Tours 2:00: Free guided tours, weather permitting. Wisconsin State Park sticker required.
June 21st 6:00pm: Solstice Event at Aztalan State Park. The sun and its movements were very important to the Aztalan Mississippian Indian people. They undoubtedly had a similar celebration. Hot dogs, snacks, and beverages will be provided beginning at 6:00 pm. Take some time to visit the interim interpretive center and the memorial Native American garden. There will be a presentation describing the Chunkey game, a summer contest played at Aztalan, by Jim Stevens who researchs ancient native games. The celebration will conclude at sunset with a viewing of the setting of the sun from the large platform mound built 800 years ago. For more information, call Bob Birmingham at 608-516-3421.
July 18th 1:00pm: Native American Day at Aztalan State Park. Native American dancers and singers from Wisconsin Dells will perform at Aztalan State Park.
August 22nd 11:00am: Friends of Aztalan annual picnic, Taste of Aztalan. Taste foods of ancient Aztalan including the fruits of the Aztalan Native American garden. Bring a dish to pass. This year Native American artist, Karen Hartman will lead a dream catcher workshop. Make your own dream catcher. Great fun for all ages.
September 18th: This year's field trip is a bus tour of the Native American effigy mounds in Madison, WI. Tour. Tour to be lead by Robert Birmingham author of Spirits of Earth, The Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the four lakes. Departure time to be posted soon.
September 11, 12, 13: Indian Summerfest, on the Milwaukee Summerfest grounds, is a large annual Native American pow-wow with food, crafts, informative displays, and Native American dance. The Friends of Aztalan man a booth at this event to raise public awareness of Aztalan State Park.
Sept 26 11am-7pm: At Madison's Willy Street Fair, the Friends of Aztalan will man a booth to raise awarness of the uniqueness of ancient Aztalan.
Call Bob Birmingham at (608) 241-4958 or email birmi@sbcglobal.net for more information.
Aztalan State Park is 2 miles off I-94 at Lake Mills, 1 hour from Milwaukee or Madison.
Historical Summary
Aztalan State Park is the site of a ceremonial and residential Native American town established in 1100 AD (approximately). This site has provided insights into ancient agriculture and gardening.
While people lived along the Crawfish River in Wisconsin's Jefferson County before 900 A.D., the Mississippians arrived at ancient Aztalan between 1050 and 1100AD. They established a heirarchal society that was culturally exotic for the area.
The Mississippian people built earthen pyramids used by the religious and ruling leaders. The largest Mississippian site is Cahokia, located near St. Louis. Aztalan is the most northern outpost.
The Aztalan people built three earthern pyramids and a protective stockade complete with guard towers. Two of the pyramids and sections of the stockade are reconstructed.
In 1837 Nathaniel Hyer mapped the site and, believing that it was built by people from the ancient Mexican city of Aztalan, named the Wisconsin site Aztalan. Though it is now known that the inhabitants were not from Mexico the name of the site was not changed.
The Book by Bob Birmingham, Executive Manager of Friends of Aztalan, former Wisconsin state archeologist and Lynne Goldstein of Michigan State University.
The charter of the Friends of Aztalan is to raise money to augment the state's budget for an Aztalan State Park Interpretive Center. The Wisconsin Archeological Society has sponsored a large office trailer as an interim interpretive center which provides information and books about the site and other related places of interest in the region. The interpretive center is open every day between 12:00 and 4:00 PM.
Click here to see remarkable pictures of the park, photos by Dan Seuer. Check out his other photos.
This website was developed and is maintained by the Friends of Aztalan State Park. We invite you to learn about the Mississippian culture from the information presented here and the links to other Mississippian sites that we found of interest.
Friends of Aztalan State Park
P.O Box 855
Lake Mills, WI 53551
See the video, purchased by the Friends of Aztalan to raise awareness of the historical uniqueness of Aztalan, and funds for an on-site visitor's interpretive center.
Site designed/developed by Marifrances A Cataldi
6/19/2010
